


Black Feather

by Gilrael



Series: Urban Fantasy AU [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Angst with a Happy Ending, Asexuality, Bisexuality, Daichi owns a café and teaches magic, Kageyama and Hinata bicker a lot, Light Angst, M/M, Magic, Mention of Past Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, but they don't do much, i'll add more tags when they become relevant, i'm not quite sure if the rating will stay the same, instead of playing volleyball they are magicians, there are OCs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-27
Updated: 2015-11-30
Packaged: 2018-04-06 12:42:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 35,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4222104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gilrael/pseuds/Gilrael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If there was one thing Hinata Shōyō was good at, then it would be running. And it looked like that was exactly the thing he should be doing right about now, because Shallot Head was looking at him with wide eyes. Shōyō definitely wasn't supposed to be here right now, but the same thing went for Sawamura-sensei's amulet, so he made sure to hold on to it as he jumped out of the window of the Seijō headquarters.<br/>---<br/>In a world where studying magic is a privilege of the rich, places like the Black Feather are the only way less fortunate young magicians can get some kind of education. Hinata knows that he's been lucky to end up working at the Black Feather, but recent events have been disturbing his home. First there's the matter with Sawamura-sensei's amulet and then a new guy shows up, turning his whole world upside down...</p><p> </p><p>This has been <a href="https://ficbook.net/readfic/3936016">translated into Russian</a> :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Running

**Author's Note:**

> 23 January 2017: Sooooo.... About this fic. I recently read through it again because it's been getting kudos again and I'm not happy with how I handled a lot of the themes. I still really like the setting and I've definitely written worse stories, but it could be a lot better. I might rewrite it one day, but who knows when I'll get around to that (I already have too many WIPs, rip me). Take this as a bit of a disclaimer to procede with caution, I guess xD

If there was one thing Hinata Shōyō was good at, then it would be running. And it looked like that was exactly the thing he should be doing right about now, because Shallot Head was looking at him with wide eyes. Shōyō definitely wasn't supposed to be here right now, but the same thing went for Sawamura-sensei's amulet, so he made sure to hold on to it as he jumped out of the window of the _Seijō_ headquarters. More or less elegantly, he landed on his feet and sprinted toward the street.

“Damn it!” the guy with the weird haircut yelled. Shōyō smiled. People were always surprised at how fast he was, despite his short legs. However, his smile faltered, when he heard the guards call for backup. He picked up speed, but he could already hear footsteps behind him.

Cursing under his breath, he shoved the amulet into his pockets. Then he snapped his fingers three times and said the words his mother had taught him so many years ago. Suddenly, it felt like the air around him was pushing him, helping him to run faster. Choosing a zigzag course, he moved away from the crime scene at an unnatural speed. He never knew how long the magic would work (he really wasn't that great at this whole magic thing), so he tried to cover as much ground as possible while it lasted.

Well, maybe he should've been a little more careful.

Shōyō turned a corner at full speed, determined to throw off his pursuers. But he didn't anticipate the fact that there might be other people out on the street. He ran head-first into a tall black-haired guy, sending them both sprawling onto the pavement.

“Ouch, fuck!” they cursed in unison.

Shōyō quickly jumped back onto his feet, ignoring his scraped knee.

“What the actual fuck is wrong with you?” A pair of dark blue eyes fixed on Shōyō's, etching themselves onto his retinas and for a second he was left breathless.

“Sorry!” he squeaked and then remembered that a bunch of magicians were on his trail. “I'd like to stay and chat, but I'm kinda in the middle of something.”

And then he was off again.

“Fuck you!” the stranger called after him.

Well, that wasn't very nice. Shōyō had even apologised!

But he didn't really have the time to think about tall handsome men with enticingly intense eyes, so he pushed him from his mind. He really had to get back to the  _Black Feather_ fast. 

 

It had taken him ten minutes to shake off Oikawa's men and Shōyō was still gasping for air by the time he knocked on the door of Sawamura-sensei's office.

“Come in.”

Shōyō took another deep breath and entered the room. Sawamura Daichi was sitting at his desk, bent over one of his ancient tomes.

“Hello, Hinata,” he said without looking up. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I have something you might be interested in,” Shōyō said, regaining some of his energy at the thought of what he managed to pull off today. At that his teacher finally looked up at him. Dramatically, Shōyō produced the amulet and held it up into the air. He hadn't even noticed how bad it felt to have that thing resting so close to his body until he had removed it from his pockets.

Immediately, Sawamura-sensei jumped up from his chair, almost knocking it over and rushed towards his student, tearing the amulet out of his hands. It was just a simple iron drudenfuss – non-magicians would probably call it a pentagram – with a black stone in the middle, and Shōyō had absolutely no idea what that thing did, but obviously it was important. Sawamura and Oikawa wouldn't have started fighting over the thing otherwise.

“You are the luckiest idiot in this entire city,” the teacher grumbled. “Oikawa would've killed you, if he'd caught you!”

“Well, I'm fast,” Shōyō replied, sounding smug. He really did have a talent for doing things quickly.

“But you don't think things through,” Sawamura-sensei scolded, but there was no real anger in his voice. His gaze was entirely focused on the amulet. “At least it's back where it belongs.”

That was as much praise as he'd get for bringing it back, but Shōyō was fine with that. His teacher had never been the kind of person to give out praise easily. It made studying magic quite frustrating, but otherwise Sawamura was a good teacher and talented magician. Shōyō felt lucky that Sawamura agreed to take him in, after Hinata Ayame, Shōyō's mother, went mental.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been turning over this idea in my mind for a while now, so let's see if I can bring it to a satisfying end.
> 
> I never intended for Oikawa to be the bad guy, really. I promise that I'll give him a proper motivation for what he's doing.
> 
> If anyone would like to beta this, you can contact me on tumblr or dA (gilrael is my default url for everything) or just leave a comment.
> 
> Any kind of feedback is appreciated!


	2. A new face

Daichi liked running the _Black Feather_. When he first opened the café, he never thought he'd end up teaching his employees after closing time. It had just happened, when he noticed that his first waitress had a latent talent for magic. Shimizu hadn't been able to control the glamour that surrounded her, which lead to some unfortunate stalking incidents, which in turn lead to Daichi deciding that he had to teach her how to control her powers. Having grown up in a wealthy family himself, Daichi hadn't even known how hard it was for kids of working class parents to be trained in magic. Shimizu's situation opened his eyes and from then on it was only a matter of time until he started exclusively employing poor kids with magic talent.

Daichi wasn't the best teacher and he knew it, but no-one else seemed willing to teach these kids without charging them huge amounts of money. He did his best and his students seemed satisfied enough. So maybe he wasn't that bad after all.

He was preparing paraphernalia for his next lesson with Yamaguchi and Hinata, when someone knocked on the door of his office.

“Come in,” he said, wiping his hands on a piece of cloth to get rid of the chalk dust that clung to them.

“Um, Sawamura-sensei?” Yachi said, timidly peering inside the room. “There's someone who wants to talk to you.”

“And who are they?” he asked, smiling at the young woman.

“Um... He says his name is Kageyama Tobio,” she mumbled.

“Ah, I've been expecting him!” Daichi exclaimed. “Let him in.”

Kageyama had recently applied for a job at the _Black Feather_ and Daichi had told him to stop by for an interview whenever he found the time. Daichi immediately got out the CV Kageyama had attached to the application form and placed a candle in the middle of his desk. Asking someone to light a candle was one of the easiest ways of checking for magic talent, because even the least talented person could produce a little spark.

Just when he settled back into his chair, there was another knock on the door. Daichi bid the visitor come in. A tall young man with utterly black hair entered the office.

“Good evening, Sawamura-san,” Kageyama said, bowing deeply.

“Good evening,” Daichi replied and pointed towards the empty chair across from him. “Have a seat.”

Stiffly, the young man sat down. There was a certain air of determination around him, but Daichi also noticed how nervous he was. He didn't seem to know where to look and what to do with his hands.

“Okay,” Daichi said, starting the interview. “Tell me about your living situation.”

Kageyama seemed startled. “What?”

“Your living situation. Do you live alone? With your parents?”

The black-haired man blinked confusedly. He wasn't the first one to be surprised by the kind of questions Daichi was asking.

“I live with my grandma...”

“Mhm, okay, does your grandma work, or is she already retired?”

“She... she is retired,” Kageyama replied stiffly, clenching his fists. Daichi seemed to have hit a nerve.

“So she's old or sick?” he prodded, which prompted a little growl from Kageyama.

“I'm sorry, sir, but I don't think that's any of your business.”

Daichi smiled. This one had a temper and valued his privacy.

“Do you want to know why I'm asking questions like this?” he asked, but didn't wait for an answer. “Because I only employ people who actually need this job. If you have enough money to afford one of the academies, I won't employ you. I only teach those who have no other way of learning to control their powers. So tell me, do you really need this job and the education that comes with it, or are you just too stingy for Shiratorizawa?”

Kageyama squirmed in his chair. “I... my grandma used to teach me, but then she got sick. Very sick. I wanted to quit magic, but I think that would make her feel bad, and I can't afford an academy. I tried practising on my own, but it doesn't really work, so when I heard about the _Black Feather_ I...” He trailed off.

Daichi nodded. “That's alright,” he said and pushed the candle toward Kageyama. Usually Daichi would now explain the basics of a fire spell, before letting the applicant give it a try, but since Kageyama had already been taught by his grandmother an explanation wouldn't be necessary. He still wanted to check, though, just to make sure. “Please light this candle.”

A frown plastered to his face, Kageyama rubbed his thumb and forefinger together before touching the wick and making it catch fire.

“Very good,” Daichi complimented and blew out the candle again, before getting started with the real interview. In the end the _Black Feather_ was still a business and he couldn't just employ every charity case he came across.

 

“Everyone gather round!” Daichi yelled as he entered the café. Yamguchi and Hinata had just arrived for their lesson and Shimizu and Yachi were busy closing up. They instantly lined up neatly behind the counter, looking at Daichi. Well, most of them were looking at him anyway. Hinata's eyes were fixed on the person behind him.

“This is Kageyama Tobio,” Daichi introduced him. “He will be joining us as off next Monday. Please take good care of him.”

“You!” Kageyama yelled, a definite note of anger in his voice and a finger pointed directly at Hinata's head. The small redhead jumped back, almost smacking into the counter. Daichi had no idea what was going on.

“Uh, do I know you?” Hinata asked, looking scared.

“You nearly killed me three days ago!” Kageyama growled and recognition seemed to dawn on Hinata's face. Huffily, he folded his arms in front of his chest.

“I apologised!”

“I nearly cracked my skull open on the ground because of you!”

Daichi knew he had to set an end to this fight immediately or it would get out of hand. Hinata was not above picking fights with people who were a lot stronger than him.

“Stop it, you two,” he said, but they ignored him. He could already feel the corner of his left eye twitch, anger slowly coming to a boil inside of him.

“Well, I was running away from a bunch of guys that were hellbent on killing me!”

“That's not an excuse not to look where the fuck you're going!”

Daichi took a deep breath. “Shut up, both of you!” he shouted. The two hotheads flinched. “I don't even want to know what the two of you are talking about, but you _will_ be civil, and you _will_ get along with each other.”

Yes, most days Daichi liked his job. Today was not one of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably won't be updating this quickly again, because I'll be busy with uni until the beginning of August, but we'll see.  
> Again, if anyone wants to beta, just write a comment or hit me up on tumblr (I'm Gilrael on there as well).


	3. Anger management issues

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really didn't think I'd have time to work on the next chapter in a while, but I was wrong. Hope you enjoy it!

“You're too impatient. This spell needs time.”

Patience was not one of Shōyō's redeeming qualities. Waiting made him antsy, as did repeating the same motion and words over and over again. But that was the thing about transfiguration, it was only possible with chanting and rituals that took too much time.

“Start over again,” Sawamura-sensei said and gave him another black piece of cloth. Shōyō was supposed to change its colour to red, by moving his fingers in a figure eight over the cloth, repeating the incantation and focusing on the desired outcome. And so he did.

Well, at least he tried.

His thoughts kept drifting to a certain dickhead called Kageyama, who kept on getting in Shōyō's face ever since he showed up at the café for the first time. Thankfully they hadn't had to work the same shift yet (definitely Sawamura-sensei's doing), so they only met in passing, or when Kageyama came upstairs for his lessons and Shōyō met him in the hallway of the flat. This was the first time that he resented having moved in with Sawamura after his mother had kicked him out, since there was no way to avoid Kageyama like this. Not a minute seemed to pass in which Kageyama was not scowling and according to Ya-chan (who was always scared shitless whenever she had to work with him) the guy had a serious problem dealing with customers.

“Focus,” Sawamura interrupted Shōyō's thoughts. Sometimes Shōyō wondered if his teacher was able to read minds. When he had asked him, Sawamura had given him a really detailed explanation why reading minds was not possible. But Shōyō wasn't inclined to believe his teacher, since he often managed to tell exactly what his students were thinking.

By the end of the lesson the cloth wasn't black anymore, but it wasn't really red either.

“You know what to do until your next lesson,” Sawamura-sensei said, looking at the orange piece of cloth with a sigh.

“Yeah, I'll practise,” Shōyō said and got up. “Should I cook something for dinner?”

“If you're up to it,” his teacher said with a shrug. “Shimizu is coming after her shift, so make sure there's enough for her as well.”

Shōyō's stomach made a little flip. When he'd first started working at the _Black Feather_ , he had been totally blown away by the embodiment of beauty that was Shimizu Kiyoko, and although four years had passed since then, he still wasn't quite used to her. Nowadays he could hold a normal conversation with her, but sometimes he was still reduced to a blushing mess, when she praised him for something.

“I'll see what I can do.”

 

Shōyō had fried up some noodles and placed them on the table between Kiyoko and Sawamura-sensei. He definitely wasn't the best cook, but living with Sawamura, he hadn't had much of a choice, since his teacher's cooking was abysmally bad. It was a small price to pay, however, considering that his mother would never let him set foot in her house again.

At the beginning of the meal, conversation turned around nothing in particular, which seemed odd to Shōyō. Usually, whenever Kiyoko-san had dinner with them, it was to discuss business matters. Sawamura-sensei trusted her when it came to these things, probably because she'd been at the _Black Feather_ the longest.

“So... How has Kageyama been holding up at work?” Sawamura-sensei finally asked, to which Kiyoko-san replied with a sigh.

“He's... awkward around customers,” she explained. “He doesn't smile and most younger customers are really intimidated by him, while the older ones think he's being rude on purpose.”

“But it's not on purpose?” Shōyō asked, frowning. He wouldn't put it past the guy to want to piss off others, just for the fun of it.

“No, I don't think so.” She shook her head. “I think it would be best to keep him on kitchen duty until he's used to being around us. As soon as that's the case we could slowly get him used to waiting tables.”

“Alright, then that's what we'll do,” Sawamura said and looked over to Shōyō. “You'll be working with him tomorrow afternoon, Hinata.”

Shōyō groaned. “Do I really have to?”

“Yes, and you'll help him out. Be _nice_.” The threat behind that order didn't go unnoticed by Shōyō.

Sighing, he put away his chopsticks. He really wasn't looking forward to this.

 

Tadashi was clearing a table, while Shōyō tried his best not to look bored. Usually, Shōyō liked work. He was good with people. All the regulars loved him and would often stay to chat, but today was a slow day. And Shōyō hated slow days. There was no-one to talk to but Tadashi. Not that he didn't like talking to him, but it just wasn't the same. And then there was Kageyama, who was manning the kitchen. The last time Shōyō went in there, they'd fought.

“Why aren't you giving me any work?” Kageyama had asked.

“Because there isn't any!” Shōyō had yelled back. Of course, Kageyama hadn't wanted to believe that, which had lead to them yelling at each other until Tadashi had come in and pulled Shōyō out of the kitchen.

“Maybe you should try getting along with him,” Tadashi said on his way to the kitchen, carrying a tray with dirty cups.

“He doesn't want to get along with me,” Shōyō replied grumpily. “Kageyama has anger management issues.”

Tadashi shook his head and pushed open the door. Sighing, Shōyō started reorganising the cups on the shelves. That at least gave him something to do. He turned them all around so that you could see the black feather that had been painted on them. It was part of Sawamura-sensei's curriculum to let his students repair them whenever they broke. Shōyō was so glad that repairing duty had been passed on from him to Ya-chan, when she had reached that stage of her training. Some of the more wonky looking feathers still reminded him of how much he had sucked at this.

When the kitchen door swung open again, Shōyō expected Tadashi to come back, but instead it was Kageyama who entered the main room of the café.

“What are you doing?” Shōyō asked, groaning internally.

“Yamaguchi wanted to switch places.”

That was not what Sawamura-sensei and Kiyoko-san had agreed on. Shōyō wanted to protest, but was interrupted by the little bell above the main door. He instantly put on his best smile and turned around to greet the new customer.

“Welcome to the _Black Feather_!” he said. “How can I...”

And then he recognised the person that came in.

They stared at each other for a moment, in which Shōyō relived a bunch of rather unpleasant memories. He remembered a slap across his cheek and a violent end to a relationship that had brought him nothing but pain.

“Well, this is awkward,” Kenta said, scratching the back of his head.

“Yes, it is,” Shōyō replied icily. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kageyama frowning at him.

This was the last thing he needed right now, but he forced himself to be civil. Kenta was a customer in this situation and it was Shōyō's job to be nice to him. “How can I help you?”

“I'll... I'll have a coffee to go,” Kenta said, looking everywhere, but not at Shōyō.

Shōyō heaved an inner sigh of relief and picked up one of the black plastic cups to place into the coffee machine. He pushed a couple of buttons and waited, while Kageyama dealt with the cash register.

When the coffee was ready, Shōyō put a lid on the cup and gave it to Kenta, who thanked him quietly.

“I'll... I'll be off then. Bye.”

“Bye.”

As soon as the door closed behind Kenta, Kageyama asked, “Who was that guy?”

“Ex-boyfriend,” Shōyō explained tersely and went back to reorganising the shelf.

“Your... ex-boyfriend,” Kageyama repeated, sounding stunned. “You are... gay?”

“Nope,” Shōyō said, glaring at the taller man. “I'm bi. Got a problem with that?”

Either he was imagining things, or Kageyama was actually blushing for some reason. “No. Why would I?”

“Because you are a colossal arse.”

Thankfully, things were back to normal after that. Shōyō would have never thought that he could miss fighting with his co-worker, but it was so much better than awkward mumbling and silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the kudos and bookmarks, they are really encouraging.  
> Still looking for a beta.  
> I'm Gilrael on tumblr.


	4. Getting used to each other

Kiyoko had always had a soft spot for the newbies at the café. Many of them left again after two or three years to pursue careers in which they could actually put their magic to good use, but she had no desire to do that. She knew that Daichi-san would never ask her to stay, but she also knew that he depended on her. He was often so busy with teaching that he completely lost track of the business side of the _Black Feather_. It was up to Kiyoko to pick up the slack whenever that happened. She didn't resent him for it. Actually, she was quite grateful for what he was doing. Young adults like Hitoka-chan and Kageyama-kun would need someone to guide their powers, if they ever wanted to be proficient magicians.

But Kageyama-kun needed more than just a teacher. He clearly also needed friends, that much was becoming clear. He lacked any kind of social filter, and Kiyoko wasn't sure how he had survived high school so far, without people to talk to after class. The only thing he seemed to be interested in was magic though, so maybe it was for the best that he'd graduate soon and could start working full time. Maybe it would be easier for him to connect to people who were also interested in magic. Daichi-san always made sure that all his students were willing to work, not just at the café, but also on their spells. Hopefully Kageyama-kun would notice that soon.

Currently, however, things were still rocky.

“I told you to make a vegetarian sandwich, dumbass,” he yelled at Shōyō, who flinched back in terror. “There's ham on it!”

“Good lord, I just mixed up the plates, Bakageyama!” Shōyō shouted back and handed him a different plate. The customers were staring at them with wide eyes. Kiyoko tried to defuse the tension with a smile, which sadly only seemed to encourage her two shadows. Nishinoya and Tanaka looked like they were about to faint from sheer bliss. Ever since those two had stepped inside the _Black Feather_ for the first time, they had bothered her endlessly. Luckily, it got better after Kiyoko had learned to control her natural disposition for glamours. Now they only admired her from afar, instead of following her around like stalkers. She reminded herself to thank Daichi-san again for that. Life was so much easier without the unwanted attention from men (and sometimes women).

“Calm down, boys,” she told her co-workers, which instantly turned both of their heads. Shōyō's face turned the brightest red, while Kageyama-kun seemed relatively unaffected. “Everyone makes mistakes now and then.”

Kageyama sent a final glare in Shōyō's direction before stalking off with the vegetarian sandwich and placing it in front of a girl in a posh school uniform, who seemed rather scared of him. It was definitely time to send him back into the kitchen.

 

***

 

Tadashi was glad that he hadn't had to share another shift with both Shōyō and Kageyama at the same time. It was both emotionally and physically exhausting to keep them from having fistfights in the middle of the café. But having lessons together with Kageyama didn't seem much better either.

It wasn't that Tadashi was particularly bad or slow with magic, but next to Kageyama, anything he was capable of seemed to pale in comparison. Sawamura-sensei was still trying to figure out what his newest student knew, so sometimes when Tadashi struggled with his spells, Kageyama didn't even have to try. It didn't help that Kageyama was a year younger than Tadashi. Or that Kageyama seemed part genius.

Sometimes Tadashi caught himself thinking that there was no point in keeping this up, because he'd never be as good as the others around him. Right now was one of these moments.

Sensei had explained how to create a glowing orb, and then asked Kageyama and Tadashi to replicate the spell. Tadashi's orb took him two tries, and he was proud of himself... Until he looked over and saw Kageyama's. Where Tadashi's light was as small as a pinhead and maybe as bright as a dying LED, Kageyama's was as big as a volleyball and illuminated the dark office with bright blue light.

“Very nice,” Sawamura-sensei said. “Try again, one after the other this time. Kageyama, you start. Yamaguchi, you should watch his palms closely.”

Sighing, Tadashi tried to focus on Kageyama's palms after his fellow classmate had extinguished the first light. The only light now came from the dim yellow orb hanging over Sawamura-sensei's head.

At first Tadashi didn't notice the difference between what he had tried before and what Kageyama was doing now. He was rubbing his hands together in a clockwise motion, muttering the spell, and then... Oh. He hadn't kept his palms flat when he moved them apart; rather, it was as though Kageyama held an actual sphere inside his hands. And then, blue light once again bathed the office.

“What did you see?”

“His palms weren't flat,” Tadashi replied.

Sawamura-sensei nodded. “Very good. Now it's your turn.”

This time around, Tadashi managed to produce an orb roughly the size of a tennis ball that shone with a near-blinding light. Sawamura-sensei held a hand in front of his eyes to shield himself from it and smiled.

“That one is much better, but we'll have to work on controlling the brightness,” he said.

 

***

 

Tobio didn't like that he had to spend so much time away from home. His boss assured him that he'd get enough time off to take care of his grandma, and Grandma had smiled and told him how glad she was that he was furthering his education. Still, he felt constantly on edge. What if Grandma had a medical emergency while he was at work? What if she fell down the stairs, like she had five years ago? Who would help her if that happened?

So it was with much anticipation that he entered his grandmother's house after his latest lesson with Sawamura-sensei.

“I'm home!” he said loudly.

“Welcome home, Tobio.” The familiar sound of Grandma's voice put him at ease. When she sounded like this, there wasn't anything to worry about.

“I brought some sandwiches home from work,” he said, after taking off his shoes and entering the living room, where Grandma sat on the couch, watching a drama on TV.

“That's very nice of you,” she replied, smiling up at him. Sometimes Tobio couldn't believe how small she was now. He could still remember how she used to carry him home on her back after he got tired from walking all day; having been too stubborn to realise that hiking further also meant that their walk back home would take much longer. He went into the kitchen to heat up water for tea, and busied himself by pulling out some plates and placing the sandwiches onto them. When he returned to the living room, Kageyama made sure to give Grandma the ones with ham, because he knew she liked ham.

“Did you go to the doctor today?” he asked, refilling her cup.

She accepted the tea carefully and nodded. “They still can't figure out what causes the nausea, though. Even with all this advanced technology and magic, they can't find a solution for it or an answer for what it might be. The doctor said to get more rest and that he's sure it's nothing serious.”

Tobio frowned at the bottom of his own cup and mumbled, "You're still sick too often."

They didn't talk after that, letting voices from the TV drama take over instead as they ate.

 

***

 

Hitoka didn't want to admit it in front of Kiyoko-san, but she really was quite intimidated by Kageyama. He never smiled, kept to himself and was just really, really focused on his magic. And then there were the rumours about him she heard at school. The students whispered that Kageyama Tobio was cursed, though nobody agreed on what the curse was. Some said that he brought bad luck to the people closest to him, which probably resulted in his lack of friends, while others said that he was just bad luck in general. Those were the nicer curses attributed to him. Once, Hitoka heard someone claim that if you touched Kageyama, you would die within a week. At least she knew that the last one wasn't true, because many people had touched him since he started working at the _Black Feather_ three weeks ago and everyone was still alive and well. Generally, Hitoka disliked gossip, because it was rarely based on truth, but Kageyama did indeed emanate a most frighteningly black aura.

Auras were her speciality. She could sense them better than anyone else at the café, and if she spent enough time around someone, she could pick them out in large crowds. This was probably the only reason why she didn't jump four metres in the air when Kageyama suddenly appeared beside her after school. (She had already freaked out as soon as she had felt his aura approaching.)

“Erm... Yachi-san?” he said, addressing his shoes.

“Oh, hello, Kageyama-san,” she replied, trying to downplay her nerves with a smile. She wasn't sure whether that would work, but Kageyama seemed more interested in the way his shoelaces were laced than in her, so it was probably fine.

“Kiyoko-senpai said that I'd be working with you today,” he said quietly, “so... um... uh... we... we should – we could – walk together, if that's okay with you?”

Hitoka really would rather have refused his offer, but couldn't think of a polite reason to, so instead she squeaked out, "Okay!"

 

***

 

Ever since Kenta showed up at the café, Shōyō was tense. He hadn't wanted his ex to know where he worked, and even more than that, he hadn't wanted Kageyama to know that he was into men. Shōyō kept waiting for Kageyama to make some sort of homophobic remark, because honestly, that guy seemed the type to use anything against Shōyō. But Kageyama never mentioned anything. He didn't make fun of Shōyō or even ask him what the heck had possessed him to go out with that dickhead, not even when Shōyō told Tadashi about the encounter the next time the three of them had a shift together.

“Wasn't that guy the reason you got disowned?” Tadashi asked with wide eyes.

“Uh, kinda? I probably wouldn't have told my mother about being bisexual, if I hadn't been in a relationship with a guy.” Shōyō shrugged. “My problem isn't so much that he indirectly caused my mother to blow up at me; my problem is that he was an abusive ass. I really don't want him to bother me here.”

Kageyama frowned, but not in the usual way. It wasn't his I-would-throw-a-fireball-at-you-if-we-weren't-working-at-the-moment frown, and it wasn't confused or concentrated either. It was just plain weird, so Shōyō filed it away and chose to ignore it for now.

“You could always ask Sawamura-sensei to put him on the blacklist,” Tadashi suggested, trying to be helpful.

“That thing is already ridiculously long for a simple café.”

“Well, he's not making any friends by teaching us magic without the proper qualifications to do so.”

Tadashi was right, of course. The big institutions like Shiratorizawa and Kitagawa Daiichi who made their money by teaching people magic or how to teach others magic said that what Sawamura was doing could be dangerous. Shōyō, on the other hand, thought that it was even more dangerous to have people on the streets who couldn't control their powers at all. Yes, usually they harmed themselves more than others, but it shouldn't have to be that way. Education shouldn't be a privilege of the rich.

Bored, he leaned on the counter, thinking about what he should do if Kenta actually came back to bother him. Making a scene in front of the customers was not an option. Sawamura-sensei had already told Kageyama and him off for bickering at work, and Shōyō really didn’t want to disappoint his boss again.

“I’ll kick him out.”

Shōyō looked up in surprise, unable to believe his own ears. Kageyama was cleaning the floor behind the counter, deliberately not looking in Shōyō’s direction.

“What?”

“I said I’ll kick him out, if he comes here,” Kageyama repeated, a faint red colouring the tips of his ears. “Are you deaf or something?”

Shōyō scowled at the taller man, unsure what to make of this offer, because honestly, when was this guy ever nice to anyone?

“Yeah, we’ll just politely show him the way out,” Tadashi said, nodding. He was clearly trying to remind Kageyama that it was not a good idea to get violent, without outright telling him so.

Well, that was at least something, Shōyō thought as the bell tinkled. He turned around to greet the new group of customers that just entered the _Black Feather_. Thankfully, his ex wasn't among them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of different POVs, lots of buildup for things to come in this one :)
> 
> Thanks to Cara for the beta <3
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated. I thrive on feedback.
> 
> And you can still find me on tumblr, I'm gilrael on there as well.


	5. Glamorous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Cara for betaing again :)

Daichi was still testing Kageyama for the gaps in his knowledge of magic. The boy really was proficient in transfiguration and anything that had to do with fire or light, and in general, he had a knack for elemental magic, but he sucked at reading auras. Daichi wasn't all that surprised about Kageyama's weakness though; after all, his newest employee struggled with people, even if it didn't involve magic.

Now it was time to find out exactly how big the problem was. Shimizu wasn't all that great at managing auras either, although she was significantly more powerful than Kageyama, meaning that if she wasn't careful, she'd end up glamouring every single person in the vicinity. And there was only one way to find out whether the grumpy young man had that sort of power as well.

“Hinata?”

The redhead had flopped down on the couch in Daichi's living room right after finishing his shift at the café.

“Hmmm?” The response drew out lazily as he lifted his head to look at his teacher.

“Could you help me out with a lesson tomorrow?” Daichi asked, leaning in the doorway.

Hinata shrugged and sat up. “Depends on what you want me to do.”

“You don't really have to do much,” Daichi assured him. He had to be careful with how he phrased this. He was aware of Hinata's extreme dislike for Kageyama, but he really didn't want to go to Yachi with this. The poor girl would die of embarrassment and fear, and Daichi was rather fond of her. He didn't want her to quit her job over this.

“I'm almost done with assessing Kageyama's talents,” he explained, voice as businesslike as possible. “I've covered all the basics: elemental magic, transfiguration, enchantments, simple potions, auras... Now all that's left are glamours.”

“Shouldn't you ask Kiyoko-san then?” Hinata asked, letting his head fall back on the couch with a  whump . “She's good at glamours.”

“But they don't work on her,” Daichi said.

“Of course they don't. She's asexual, isn't she?”

Hinata was still blissfully oblivious.

He's so fucking dense, Daichi thought. Sighing, he tried to gently push Hinata's thoughts in the right direction. “But you happen to be interested in men.”

“I wouldn't live here if I wasn't.”

Daichi was painfully aware of his flatmate's family issues. It was one of the reasons why he hadn't thought twice before offering Hinata his guest room. Well, the guest room had permanently turned into Hinata's room. Guests had to sleep on a futon in the living room nowadays.

Obviously, cautious hinting wasn't working today, so Daichi decided to just go for it. “You're interested in men, Kageyama happens to be one, and I need to know whether his glamours work or not. Since I don't particularly care for men, I need you to tell me if he does it correctly.”

"What?!" Hinata jerked up so fast that Daichi thought he might give himself whiplash. At Daichi's serious face, Hinata groaned. “Oh, hell no." He let himself fall back onto the couch. “Ask Ya-chan.”

“You know just as well as I do that she's scared stiff of Kageyama's aura,” Daichi reminded him, folding his arms in front of his chest. “You are going to help me with this.”

The redhead looked over at Daichi, opening his mouth to argue, but thought better of it when Daichi broke out his menacing smile.

 

***

 

If you'd asked Tobio about one thing he hated about his job, he would've probably said Hinata. His co-worker constantly reminded him that he was two years older than Tobio, despite being the size of a middle school kid. Where Tobio preferred transfiguration spells, Hinata was infectiously enthusiastic about wind magic. Tobio refused to agree with Hinata on that point though, saying that transfiguration spells just seemed much more useful, even if they were a lot less flashy. Hinata also made way too much noise for someone his size, which multiplied tenfold when he talked to Tanaka-san and Noya-san, two regulars who came by every Thursday evening. They tended to be loud and obnoxious together, and had this weird obsession with Kiyoko-san.

Yeah, there were a lot of things Tobio couldn't stand about his “senpai.” He shuddered at the thought of ever addressing him as such. He had no trouble using the proper honorific with Kiyoko and Yamaguchi, but “Hinata-senpai” was the last thing that would ever leave his mouth, because saying it would mean dying on the spot alongside his pride.

But while Hinata could be an annoying dumbass, there were also moments where Tobio found himself caught up in his enthusiasm. Now and then Hinata would see him enter the café and start telling him all about this new spell he figured out. The widest grin would spread on his face and his golden eyes would glitter with excitement. It was hard for Tobio not to get just as carried away in these moments.

Hinata's happiness was simply infectious, yet Tobio wasn't thrilled to see the redhead already sitting in Sawamura-sensei's office, when it was time for one of his lessons. He didn't bother greeting him.

“Sawamura-sensei,” he said, bowing a little.

“Hello, Kageyama,” the teacher said and pointed at a chair next to Hinata. Tobio sat down, blatantly ignoring Hinata fidgeting beside him. “How are exam preparations going?”

“I'll pass,” Tobio replied, although he actually wasn't sure whether he was actually ready for finals. Maybe it hadn't been the wisest decision to start a new job in his last two months of high school, especially one with magic lessons attached to it. But when he saw the ad in the paper, he just had to go for it.

“That's good to hear.” Sawamura-sensei clapped his hands. “Alright, let's start. We'll be doing glamours today. What do you know about them?”

“Not much,” Tobio admitted. “My grandma only told me that they don't actually make people fall in love with you. They just get obsessed and think they are in love, and then when the spell wears off, they'll hate you.”

“Well, that's close enough,” Sawamura said, nodding. “The most important thing about glamours is that they only serve to exaggerate your sexual or romantic attractiveness. A woman can't glamour a heterosexual, heteroromantic woman. You probably won't be able to glamour me, because I'm mostly straight, and no-one's able to glamour Shimizu, because as an asexual, she's not interested in romance or sex,” he explained. “Another very important factor to consider is that people who are affected by your glamour are not all affected in the same way. People like different things, so one person might start raving about your eyes, while the next one will be staring at your junk. Things will get ugly pretty quickly, if you're not careful.” Suddenly, his face got very serious. “Using a little glamour now and then to make someone notice you is fine, as long as you do it in moderation. But as you said, most people will feel betrayed after the spell wears off, so if you actually want someone to like you, talking to them without a glamour is definitely the better option. Most importantly though, I never ever want to hear that any of my students used a glamour to cheat at an examination or to gain advantage over someone else in a competition. If you do so, you'll never set foot in the Black Feather again.”

A shiver ran down Tobio's spine. Sawamura-sensei could be really intimidating at times. Tobio had no intention of breaking any of his rules.

“Good. Now that we've got that out of the way, we'll see if you can actually pull off a glamour.”

Sawamura went on to explain a basic glamour. It was all about projecting confidence, using eye contact, and concentrating on a specific target. Tobio was told to face Hinata, who had been silently staring daggers at both Sawamura-sensei and Tobio the entire time. He didn't seem happy in his role as the test subject for Tobio's first glamour, and Tobio couldn't really blame him for it. This was a terribly awkward situation to be in.

“Now, you'll have to look into his eyes,” Sawamura instructed. Tobio did so. His palms were getting sweaty. Not once had he thought that he'd ever try and seduce another person, let alone a guy. He didn't even know how to flirt. He didn't want to flirt, anyways. Relationships seemed like such a hassle. There was that one time in middle school when a girl confessed to him on Valentine's day, and he didn't even blink before awkwardly rejecting her. Relationships made you vulnerable. He'd seen his father drown himself in alcohol after his mother passed away. Six months later, Kageyama Isamu followed his wife to the grave when he was involved in a traffic accident. Now all Tobio had for family was his grandma.

“Um, Kageyama, are you listening?”

Tobio's head snapped up and he could feel heat creeping onto his face. “Sorry! What were you saying, sensei?”

Sawamura frowned, but repeated his instructions without further comment. “Look into his eyes and focus on what you like about yourself. Things you are proud of, maybe some kind of accomplishment, or maybe just part of your body you think looks particularly good. It doesn't matter much what you pick, just concentrate on it. Think about that one thing and project it onto Hinata.”

Well, Tobio was proud of his magic talent. He had a knack for memorising and performing even the trickiest of spells, so he tried to think of all the different spells he knew while staring into a set of eyes looking right back at him. Hinata did have nice eyes, he noted to himself absently. They were golden, kind of like the sun on a warm summer day.

Ugh, he wasn't supposed to think about that dumbass' eyes, he was supposed to think good things about himself and project them onto Hinata!

He tried again. This time, he thought about how he managed to make Hinata smile yesterday. During his lesson with Sawamura-sensei, he melted and reformed a scrap piece of metal into a little crow, and when he met Hinata on his way out, he had given it to him, because he didn't know what else to do with it.

All of a sudden, Hinata's eyes seemed to glaze over. His lips parted and he seemed... awestruck? Was that the right word? Tobio wasn't sure, but it seemed like he got the hang of this glamour.

“Uh, is it working?” he asked, not daring to look away from his co-worker's face.

“Hi,” Hinata breathed, a really goofy grin adorning his round face. It was kinda adorable, Tobio had to admit.

Sawamura-sensei was stifling his laughter. “Yeah, I think it does.”

“How do I stop it?” Tobio asked. There was a really nice feeling spreading in his stomach from having Hinata look at him like he was the most precious thing in the world, and suddenly he didn't know if he wanted to end the spell.

“This one should stop working as soon as you look away,” Sawamura replied.

Somewhat reluctantly, Tobio tore his eyes away and turned them onto the ground.

“Holy fucking shit, that was weird!” Hinata exclaimed, rubbing his eyes. “Please never do that again.”

“Well, he'll have to. Just to make sure this wasn't a fluke,” Sawamura-sensei said, giving Hinata an apologetic smile. The redhead groaned, carding a hand through his hair.

“Fine, but this is definitely the last time I'll be glamoured today!”

 

***

 

Shōyō hadn't been this tired in a very long time. Being the subject of a glamour spell by Kageyama had been infuriating. He'd imagined the wildest things while staring into his deep blue eyes. From holding hands to making out to having sex, he was pretty sure that everything one could do with Kageyama had crossed his mind. Goodness gracious, he'd fantasised about fucking a high school student. Yes, Kageyama was eighteen, but he hadn't fucking graduated yet and Shōyō had imagined going down on him. This was not okay. It just wasn't! Bloody hell, he had standards!

Two hours later though, when he was in bed, Shōyō was still thinking about it. He wondered how it would feel to shove Kageyama against a wall, grab him by the collar and pull him down into a passionate kiss.

Was it possible that the glamour had accidentally stuck? Kageyama's magic was kinda powerful, so maybe his glamours were like Kiyoko-san's. That had to be it, Shōyō decided. Tomorrow, he'd go talk to Sawamura and they'd figure out how to stop this.

There was no way he was actually attracted to that asshole. Why would he be? Kageyama was rude and mean, always calling him names or putting him in headlocks. He couldn't work with anyone, especially kids. One time, Ya-chan timidly suggested that he should smile at the customers when they came in. Kageyama's resulting grimace had made a little girl cry and run to her mother. He was just so infuriatingly arrogant and socially inept. Why would anyone ever like a guy like him?

Okay, Shōyō had to admit that he was good looking. Attractive enough that Shōyō noticed during the brief seconds of their fated first meeting. And sometimes Kageyama could be nice, like when he offered to deal with Kenta, or when he gave Shōyō that little crow yesterday...

He shook his head. Ugh, this was just the glamour talking.

I should go to sleep, he thought, pulling the covers over his shoulder. Maybe it'll pass. And if not, Sawamura will know what to do.

He didn't count on Kageyama's eyes following him into his dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos, bookmarks, etc!  
> You can find me on tumblr, I'm Gilrael there as well :)


	6. Stuck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took longer, because my organic chemistry finals are coming up, but I hope it was worth the wait!

“Hey, I've got a question,” Hinata finally piped up during breakfast. Daichi had already been wondering why his flatmate was being so quiet. Hinata was never quiet.

“Ask away,” Daichi encouraged him, putting down his bowl of rice.

“Well... That glamour you showed Kageyama... It can't actually stick, can it?”

Daichi raised an eyebrow. “What's 'stick' supposed to mean?”

Hinata shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “Like... It shouldn't last longer than eye contact, right?”

“Unless you're gifted like Shimizu, it shouldn't, and I don't think Kageyama has that sort of affinity for glamours,” Daichi clarified, before resuming his meal.

He glanced up after several moments of silence. Hinata looked like he'd lost his appetite, which was highly unusual. He'd seen Hinata down nine bowls of rice once.

“Are you alright? You don't look well.”

Hinata shook his head. “I'm fine. Just... thinking...”

Part of Daichi didn't want to know what this was about, because it could only mean trouble, but mostly he worried for Hinata. He'd taken the young man under his wing; given him a home when he lost his, so Daichi still felt responsible for him in a way, although Hinata was an adult now. He knew that Hinata had had bad experiences with glamours in the past, and not the kind of glamours Daichi was willing to teach.

“If anything is bothering you, you can talk to me,” he reminded his student. But Hinata didn't talk, opting instead to stare at his rice like it held all the answers.

He'd come around eventually, Daichi hoped, because he had other problems to take care of. Both Yachi and Kageyama needed to study for their finals, so there was no way he could schedule them for their usual shifts. Although they wanted to continue working at the café after graduation, he still wanted them to put effort into these exams. Unlike Hinata and Shimizu, they probably wouldn't stay here forever. He didn't want them to stay forever, either, because they were too talented to work as waiters for the rest of their lives.

Daichi looked at the shift schedule lying next to his bowl of rice. Either he had to help out himself until Kageyama and Yachi were finished with exams, or he needed to call in friends for help.

 

* * *

 

Hitoka preferred to study at the Black Feather. Even when the café was full of customers, it still was quieter than home, where her two younger cousins constantly bothered her to play with them. She loved those kids, but right now she needed to focus. All her English notes were neatly lined up in front of her, while she sipped at a cup of tea and tried to figure out the translation for a particularly complex sentence.

Across from her sat one of her classmates, Tsukishima Kei. He looked tall and unfriendly, but Hitoka had taken a liking to his aura. She quickly realised that his spitefulness acted to hide his insecurities, and therefore she learned to ignore the snide remarks he often made. He also made a good study companion when cramming for finals like this.

“Tsukishima-kun,” she said, pushing her English textbook over to his side of the table, so she could show him the sentence she was struggling with, “how would you translate this?”

He glanced at the book and furrowed his brows in concentration. “It has a conditional clause, so you should–”

“Ya-chan!” a lively Shōyō yelled, spotting her from across the café and bouncing towards the table where she sat. Hitoka's classmate clicked his tongue, looking utterly irritated by the bright smile on the redhead's face.

“What are you studying today?” Shōyō asked.

“English,” she replied, smiling. Something felt really off. Shōyō displayed his usual enthusiastic behaviour, but his aura... Ordinarily it glowed a warm orange, full of innocent happiness. Now, however, the colour had dulled and wasn't as infectious as usual.

“Oh, I used to suck at English!” Shōyō shook his head, like the memory of English lessons caused him physical pain.

“What a surprise,” Tsukishima muttered sarcastically.

“Hey, you got a problem? You wanna go?” Shōyō asked him, his aura immediately shifting to a hostile red.

Hitoka swallowed. Her co-worker easily got riled up, but normally comments like that went flying straight over his head. Something must have happened to make him so on edge. She didn't want to ask about it while Tsukishima was there, though.

Tsukishima just rolled his eyes and turned back to Hitoka's text book, ignoring Shōyō. “So, about this conditional...”

Shōyō huffed, but waved goodbye to Hitoka, who threw Shōyō one last smile before focusing on her studies again. She'd talk to him later.

 

* * *

 

Shōyō felt like he was walking on a fine line between sanity and insanity. He just couldn't get these dreams out of his head. They still were rather innocent, considering the things he had imagined while under Kageyama's spell. But the fact that they were there at all bothered him. A lot. Despite what Sawamura-sensei had said during breakfast, Shōyō knew for a fact that this all had to be caused by that stupid glamour. There was just no way that he'd develop these kinds of feelings for an asshat like Kageyama on his own. That was just impossible.

“Are you sure everything is alright?” Sawamura asked carefully, when Shōyō slumped into a barstool and propped his chin on his hand.

Hinata still found it weird to see Sawamura-sensei standing behind the counter, wearing a black apron. He was more of a businessman and teacher than a waiter.

Under Daichi's watchful gaze, Hinata sighed. “You don't need to worry about me.”

He didn't want to talk about this with his boss, because it made him uncomfortable to bring up the topic of relationships in front of him. It always was all shades of awkward whenever Shōyō brought home a boyfriend or girlfriend, especially if they stayed overnight. Daichi didn't mind him bringing them over, but it always felt like introducing them to his father. Which was ten times more ridiculous, considering that Hinata's actual father was a good-for-nothing slob who constantly tried to mooch money off him ever since he got wind of Hinata's job. Sometimes Hinata was glad about having a substitute father in Sawamura-sensei, but at other times it just made things more awkward than they needed to be.

“Maybe... maybe you should switch places with Shimizu for a while,” Sawamura suggested. Shōyō didn't protest, which was an oddity in itself, and disappeared quietly into the kitchen. Sawamura shook his head and sighed. He really hoped that Shōyō figured whatever this was out soon.

 

* * *

 

It was nearly closing time when Yachi entered the kitchen, where Shōyō shuffled around, putting away supplies.

“Hey, Shōyō,” she said timidly. “Um... Your aura seems off today. Is everything okay?”

Hinata grimaced, his back still to her. Of course Ya-chan noticed. Why did he have to be so easy to read? And why did she have to be especially good at it?

“Yeah, I'm not in the best of moods,” he admitted and opened the fridge to stack up perishables.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Ya-chan might be younger than him, but she was thoughtful and often provided advice or new insights. Plus, she wouldn't tell Sawamura-sensei or anyone else about what he told her.

“It's just...” He tried to think of the proper words to describe his situation. “What would you do if you had this really, really annoying idiot of a co-worker, with a bad personality, who constantly scares customers and...”

“Are you talking about Kageyama-kun?” she interrupted him, hitting the nail on the head. Admittedly, it was a pretty big nail that was hard to miss, now that Shōyō thought about it.

“Ugh, yes. It's just that... Yesterday I was the guinea pig for Kageyama's first glamour and... I... I just haven't been able to get him out of my head ever since!” He slammed the fridge shut and glared at it for a moment, then sighed and pressed his forehead to the door, closing his eyes. “It's so damn frustrating, because I just don't get why I would even be remotely interested in him.”

Yachi nervously shifted her weight from one leg to the other. “But... you two kinda work well together,” she mumbled.

Shōyō laughed bitterly. “Since when?”

“I mean, you do shout at each other a lot, but when you two compete, you both manage to get a lot of things done, quickly, and... I don't know, you kind of complement each other in a lot of ways.”

He scoffed shook his head. He really couldn't see what she was talking about. Kageyama was just too different from him, what with his constant scowl and angry attitude. The two of them would never work out! They weren't even close to becoming friends, and probably never would.

“I'll just try to forget him. Good thing that he won't come to work until your exams are over,” Hinata said, picking up a rag and pushing out the door to wipe down tables.

 

***

 

Tobio missed his magic lessons with Sawamura-sensei. He'd rather figure out ways to shape and recolour plastic and metal than to try cramming chemical reactions into his brain. He didn't need to know how to make ammonia out of hydrogen and nitrogen without magic. He was quite sure that he could do so with his powers without breaking a sweat, whereas the mundane method needed time, a lot of energy, reduced pressure and a catalyst. He only knew that because it said so in his chemistry textbook, and he would probably forget that too by the time the exam came around.

Gosh, what he'd give for a normal shift at the café. Even kitchen duty during their busiest times sounded like heaven compared to studying this bullshit. He'd rather have another fight with Hinata than force himself to look at another chemical formula. Unlike this chemistry crap, fighting with Hinata was kinda fun. He really got a kick out of riling up the redhead, and sometimes Tobio felt that it was the same for Hinata. Not that he'd ever admit that in front of his co-worker.

Sighing, he turned the page of his textbook to have a look at the next headline.

'The contact process – Producing sulphuric acid on an industrial scale'

Nope. Nope, nope, nope. He was done with this. No more chemistry for today. Grumbling, he got up from his desk and left his room. He should probably check up on Grandma anyway. She had come down with another of these random sick spells and was currently trying to sleep off the nausea.

Quietly, Kageyama made his way downstairs and peeked around the doorframe into her bedroom. She was asleep in bed, lying on her back with her arms folded on her chest above the covers, but she seemed to be sleeping restlessly. Every now and then, the corner of her right eye would twitch, and she mumbled and made little noises.

Tobio tiptoed into the room and knelt on the floor at her bedside. He wanted to help, but he didn't know how. His eyes roamed over Grandma's bedside table. It was littered by little bottles half-filled with pills and tinctures against nausea, all of them different and most adorned by the Seijō logo, but as far as he knew, none of them actually made a difference.

A choked sob slipped out of him. When not even trained professionals could prescribe medicine to combat this illness, what could he do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to my beta Cara <3
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos etc, they are always appreciated!
> 
> You can also come talk to me on tumblr (I'm Gilrael there as well).


	7. Collapse

Dinner was a quiet affair in the Kageyama household, but it hadn't always been that way. The silence had started creeping into the house when Tobio's grandmother got sick for the first time. Tobio didn't like it. It wasn't that he wanted to talk, but he had never minded listening to his grandma's anecdotes about her youth; about how she struggled to gain permission to learn elemental magic, as it was deemed improper for girls back then. The fact that an illness could render a fierce woman into something so fragile didn't sit well with him.

Chewing on his pork curry, he looked across the table, where his grandma pushed her rice around instead of eating it.

“You need to eat more,” he mumbled.

She smiled sadly. “I know, but I'm not feeling very hungry.”

An involuntary frown crept up on Tobio's face. “You need strength.”

His grandma rolled her eyes and made an exaggerated show of picking up a bit of rice with her chopsticks and putting it in her mouth, like she used to when she needed to encourage ten year old Tobio to eat his vegetables.

“You shouldn't worry so much,” she said, grinning, but Tobio knew it was just a show for him. Her smile didn't quite reach her eyes. It used to make him angry that she would act like everything was alright when things were clearly not okay, but now it only made him sad.

“Do you miss your friends?” she asked, clearly trying to steer the conversation in another direction.

Tobio gave a non-committal grunt. He didn't want to admit that his co-workers were the first friends he'd made since elementary school. Yachi even talked to him during lunch breaks at school these days. At least, when she wasn't hanging out with that bastard, Tsukishima.

“You always seem a lot more cheerful when you talk about... what was his name? Hinata?”

Tobio's back went rigid and he stared at his grandmother with wide eyes.

“You must really get along well with him.”

How had she managed to get that impression?

“I really don't,” he said flatly, but she just smiled like she knew better.

 

By the end of dinner she had barely eaten half of her pork curry and rice. Tobio didn't comment on it, but there were so many words burning on his tongue. He wanted her to fight, to never give up, because he wanted her to be well again one day. But instead of speaking, he quietly gathered up her bowls and put them in the fridge, so she could reheat them for lunch the next day.

He contemplated going upstairs to study for a while, but he didn't want to. Finals would start in three days, but the thought didn't motivate him to work harder, it just made him want to dig a hole in the ground to hide out until exams were over.

Feeling a little guilty, he sat down on the couch next to his grandma to watch her favourite TV drama with her.

 

***

 

Hitoka was spending another afternoon studying at the café with Tsukishima, when she heard the little bell chime, announcing a new group of customers. Normally she didn't pay much attention to what was going on around her when she was studying, but something about these new arrivals sent an uneasy tremor up her spine. She looked up to take a closer look at the two men.

They appeared perfectly ordinary, like most salarymen who came to the Black Feather after work. They wore sharply creased suits, and one of them loosened his tie after sitting down at a table near the entrance. But despite the normalcy of it all... something felt off.

When Kiyoko-san went to take their orders, Hitoka narrowed her eyes, trying to focus on their auras. But no matter how hard she concentrated on them, all she saw was a faint glow surrounding them. She couldn't make out a colour or mood at all.

Were they purposefully suppressing their auras? That seemed highly suspicious to Hitoka. Why would office worker need to hide their auras?

"Earth to Yachi,” Tsukishima said, waving his hand in front of her face to snap her out of her pensive state.

“Oh, s–sorry,” she stuttered, blushing. “What did you say, Tsukishima-kun?”

“I said that I need to leave. My mother's waiting for me,” he replied, looking mildly annoyed at needing to repeat himself.

“Ah, okay. Good work today.”

“...Yeah,” he said lamely and got up. “You should stop dreaming so much, you know...”

He went to Kiyoko-san to pay for his tea and waved to Hitoka on his way out, who barely registered the movement; her eyes trained on the suspicious customers, trying to gage their intentions by watching their actions.

 

***

 

One second ago, everything had been fine. Grandma had been laughing about a particularly funny commercial, and Tobio had smiled, because he liked hearing her laugh. But then suddenly, she turned white as a sheet.

“Bathroom,” she whispered weakly and tried to get up. Before Tobio could react and lend his arm, she fell.

Panicked, Tobio tried to help her up again, but she was too weak to stand, let alone walk. Carefully, he manoeuvred her back onto the couch and ran into the kitchen to get a plastic bag.

When he returned, she was already heaving like she was about to vomit up the little bit of food that was in her stomach.

“Here,” he said, trying to sound calm, but failing spectacularly. There wasn't really anything he could do but hold the plastic bag for her, while she was sick. The gagging noises and acrid smell permeated the room, turning his stomach queasy.

One would think that seeing his grandma puke at least twice a week for the last two years would've made him immune to the smell and sound, but it hadn't. He couldn't leave her, however. She'd always been there for him when things were rough, so it was his duty to watch over her now that she was ill. He just closed his eyes and tried to remember the smell of the café – coffee, tea, the onigiri Kiyoko-san made sometimes... It didn't really help.

When his grandma was finished Tobio quickly tied up the bag and threw it out, then retrieved a wash cloth from the bathroom.

“Thank you, Tobio...” she said, her voice shaking as much as the hands wiping her mouth.

“I'll make you some tea,” Tobio decided. “You just lie down for now.”

She didn't say anything, closing her eyes instead.

 

The tea didn't help. Nothing helped. There was nothing left in her stomach, but Tobio's grandma kept on throwing up. Finally, he called for an ambulance.

 

The paramedics already knew the way into the Kageyama's living room, so Tobio simply opened the front door for them before running back into his grandma's bedroom to see if anything was missing from her overnight bag. Toothbrush, two sets of clothes, socks and underwear, a book to read... Everything was there.

“Do you want to come with us again?” Ennoshita-san, one of the paramedics, asked.

Tobio didn't want her to be alone, but it was already late and he needed to go to school tomorrow...

“It's a school night,” he admitted reluctantly. "I should stay and study..."

He knew that his grandma would be mad at him if he skipped one of his last days of school because of her.

Ennoshita smiled gently and put a hand on Tobio's shoulder in an attempt to reassure him. "Don't worry, we'll take good care of her."

But Tobio knew that this hospital visit wasn't going to fix his grandma, because none of the previous ones had.

 

***

 

It was the last evening before the exams, so Yachi tried to use as much of the little time that was left to study, but she was awfully distracted. The two men in suits were there again, and they were still suppressing their auras.

After their previous visit, she had finally worked up the courage to tell Sawamura-sensei about her suspicions, but he'd chuckled, told her not to worry, and reassured her that they might be lawyers. Criminal defense lawyers learned to hide their auras because it made their work easier if their opponents couldn't read them.

Still, Yachi couldn't shake the bad feeling she had about them. Tsukishima poked fun at her because of it.

“You should become a detective,” he teased, after he caught her sneaking glances at them.

“Maybe I will,” she huffed. She was just about to turn her attention back onto her history textbook, when suddenly the door to the café was thrown open. Kageyama came running inside, gasping for air like he'd run a marathon.

“Where...” He paused for breath. “Where's sensei?”

 

***

 

Shōyō and Sawamura were in the kitchen, trying to stop the tap from flooding the entire place. Shōyō had turned the sink on to wash some dishes when the tap decided to explode. Watching Sawamura-san's futile attempts at stemming the flow of water, Hinata opened his mouth to suggest calling a plumber, when Kageyama burst through the door.

“Sawamura-sensei! I... I really need your help.”

“What's going on?” At the urgency in Kageyama's voice, Sawamura straightened up and turned to face him, more concerned for the boy than for the definitely increasing bills he'd need to pay soon enough. He ushered Kageyama towards the kitchen door, safely out of the range of the quickly growing puddle, and Shōyō heaved out a sigh, left to his own devices.

Tapping a finger against his lips, he considered the effects of trying to stop the flow of the water with magic, but he figured that with his luck, he'd end up accidentally blocking something important off and the pipes themselves would burst. He sighed, seeing no other option but to pick up the wrench dropped by Sawamura-sensei and to try to shut off the water supply below the sink. Good thing he was so short, he mused as he wrestled with the rusty knobs and bolts, or else this would've been ten times more uncomfortable.

A bolt gave way to Hinata's wrench, and he yelped as a fresh spray of water splashed out, effectively drenching him entirely. He screwed the bolt back in as fast as he could, blinking water out of his eyes, then noticed a small handle off to the side. Out of desperation and sheer panic more than anything else, Shōyō grabbed it and yanked it to the side. The water gurgled once, then abruptly stopped.

Shōyō cheered mentally, then looked down at himself and wrinkled his nose as he realised how soaked he was. Ugh. He'd have to change now, or end up working in wet clothes all day.

"--my grandma is in the hospital and they want to release her tomorrow morning, but someone needs to pick her up and I can't pick her up because finals start tomorrow and I don't know what to do anymore; I mean, I know I need to pick her up, but I don't know how, and if I miss my exams I won't be able to pass and I'll have to repeat the year and--”

The distress in Kageyama's voice was painful to hear, even for Shōyō, who definitely did not care about Kageyama at all, not one bit, not about his problems, or his family, or his stupidly nice face... Nope. Not one bit.

Okay, maybe for Kageyama's grandma, but that was it.

“Calm down, calm down!” Out of the corner of his vision, Shōyō could see his teacher with both his hands on Kageyama's shoulders.

“We'll find a solution somehow,” Sawamura-sensei said reassuringly. “I'd offer to pick her up myself, but seeing as the tap is completely busted, I think I'll need to deal with plumbers tomorrow.”

“I can go,” Shōyō offered, crawling out from under the sink.

Kageyama stared. “You?”

Shōyō was getting kind of weirded out by how Kageyama kept staring at him, like he'd just grown an extra eye on his forehead. He shifted uncomfortably in his sodden clothes.

“You'd pick her up?”

“Why wouldn't I?” He frowned. “You might be an idiot, but that's not your grandma's fault. If she needs help getting home from the hospital, I'll help her.”

“I... Um... You... Thanks?” It came out more like a question.

“You owe me, though,” Shōyō added. He didn't want Kageyama to think that he did this because he liked him or something. Because he definitely did not. He didn't like this tall young man who loved his grandmother more than anything in the world, with the exception of magic, maybe. Shōyō could definitely live without Kageyama ever knowing about these nonexistent feelings.

“You _are_ aware that you're on morning shift tomorrow, Hinata, right?” said Sawamura.

Damn, he'd completely forgotten about that. “Oh. Right. Uh...”

Kageyama's face fell. Shōyō really couldn't handle that facial expression. It pulled on his heartstrings and made him want to pat Kageyama's head or something dumb like hug him. This was bad. But before he could do or say something stupid, Sawamura was speaking again.

“Well, I guess I could call in that favour from Suga,” he mused, scratching his neck.

“Who's Suga?” Kageyama asked.

Shōyō snickered at the blush rising on his teacher's face.

“Oh, uh, he's just a friend. You know, from my days at the academy,” Sawamura said.

Hinata knew better. Sugawara-san wasn't just a friend, he was the reason Sawamura-sensei called himself “mostly” straight.

“You've been holding onto that favour to ask him out on a date, haven't you?” Shōyō grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Stop it,” Sawamura snapped, but his blushing only intensified. Shōyō couldn't stop the giggle that escaped from his throat. Throwing Shōyō a warning look, Sawamura turned back to Kageyama.

“Don't worry. I'll ask my friend to help out, and Hinata can pick up your grandma. Come on, I'll make you a cup of tea.” He put an hand on Kageyama's shoulder and gently pushed him out the kitchen door.

“Oh, and Hinata, please mop up the flood.”

Groaning, Shōyō watched them leave. He hated cleaning up.

 

 

Lying in bed, Shōyō tried to imagine what Kageyama's grandma would be like. With how much he worried, Kageyama always made it sound like she was fragile and small. But Shōyō couldn't imagine anyone in Kageyama's family as delicate. He must have inherited that scowl from someone; it was way too scary to be an outlier in the family.

Come to think of it, how come Kageyama never spoke of his parents? Why weren't they around? Shōyō never thought to ask him about that before. Maybe he should get to know his co-worker a little better. Tomorrow, he could probably ask Kageyama's grandma some questions about him. Yeah, he'd do that. Hopefully, she wouldn't be as scary as her grandson.

Smiling to himself, he rolled into a comfortable position, and was on the verge of falling asleep when his phone chimed with a notification. He groaned, threw out an arm and groped about the bedside table for it, bringing it to his face and squinting at the bright light.

It was a text from his sister. Excitedly, he unlocked his phone to read the message, nearly dropping it on his face in his enthusiasm.

 

From: Hinata Natsu <3

>Hi niichan, how r u?

 

To: Hinata Natsu <3

>Hey Natsu! I'm fine :D Hbu? Mum still checking ur phone?

 

From: Hinata Natsu <3

>Yeah I'll have to delete this b4 she gets home :/

 

To: Hinata Natsu <3

>Daaaamn, she's so annoying >:(

 

From: Hinata Natsu <3

>I know :( But I'll come by the café on Sat! She'll be gone all day :D

 

Shōyō didn't like the sound of that. He didn't want his little sister to risk another fight with their mother, just so she could see him.

 

To: Hinata Natsu <3

>R u sure this is a good idea? I wanna see u but I don't want u to get into trouble with mum... she's gonna kill u if she finds out

 

From: Hinata Natsu <3

>LOL she won't. I told her I'm gonna go shopping with friends!

 

Shōyō sighed and rubbed a hand over his face tiredly. He really missed Natsu, but he wanted her to be safe. The last time their mum caught Natsu texting him, she got grounded for two months.

 

To: Hinata Natsu <3

>Please be safe

 

From: Hinata Natsu <3

>Don't worry niichan, I know what I'm doing! ;)

 

Shōyō highly doubted that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I'm sorry Tobio, but you won't be catching a break any time soon.
> 
> I'm almost done with planing this fic, and now I'm pretty sure that the rating will go up in later chapters.
> 
> Thanks for the kudos etc <3 And as always thanks to Cara for betaing :)


	8. Misunderstanding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I couldn't get a hold of my beta, so this has only been edited by me :/ I might be majoring in English at uni, but it's not my native language. If you notice weird grammar and spelling, just tell me and I'll correct it!  
> You might notice that I changed the rating and added a couple of tags. They won't be relevant for this chapter yet, but things are going to turn a lot more serious in the future. I promise that there won't be any graphic descriptions of anything, though!

Daichi couldn't remember the last time he was the one to unlock the entrance of the café in the morning. It had been years ago, when Shimizu was still causing trouble with her glamours, and he was still struggling to figure out how to run a business. Daichi's dad had been so mad at him for taking over his deceased uncle's café instead of putting his degree to good use and had refused to help him out. Thankfully Daichi's friends had supported his decision and jumped in whenever he was short on staff.

Sighing, he turned the key. He was just about to put out the little blackboard with the weekly specials, when two very familiar faces appeared in front of him. Okay, one face wasn't technically in front of him, because Asahi was just too damn tall, but Daichi barely even thought about that, because he was already taken in by Suga's smile.

“Oh, you're here already,” Daichi said hastily.

“Yeah, we've missed you, too, Mr 'I'm too busy to hang out with my friends because I have a business to run',” Suga scolded him.

Asahi – timid as always – just said, “Hello, Daichi.”

“What are you doing here anyway?” Daichi asked him, frowning. He couldn't remember having said anything about needing two people to help out, when he called Suga yesterday.

“He's here for old times sake,” Suga explained, waltzing into the café like he owned the place. “And also... We all know how terrible you are at anything that has to do with food, and I'm not that great either. I don't want to scare your customers away with my non-existent sandwich making skills.”

Daichi was relieved. He hadn't even thought about who was going to man the kitchen between the two of them. And this would also make it easier to keep an eye on the repair people, who were scheduled to come in an hour. 

“Thank you, guys,” he said. “The spare aprons are still in the same cupboard as back then. I'll show you where all the cups and ingredients are in a second.”

 

***

 

Shōyō tried to smooth down the bird's nest that was his hair before entering the hospital, but it was a hopeless battle. His hair always defied gravity, no matter what he did to it. Well, it was not like he was meeting anyone important today. It was just Kageyama's grandma. Sighing, he stepped through the automatic sliding doors. The entrance hall was bustling with patients and nurses, but it wasn't hard to pick out Kageyama-san, who was sitting on one of the many chairs in the waiting area. Despite her bent back, she looked like she would be taller than Shōyō, when standing up. Her hair was still mostly black with only very few streaks of grey, but most notably were her dark blue eyes, which very closely resembled those of her grandson. But that was where the similarities ended. Where Kageyama Tobio seemed unapproachable and scary, Kageyama Megumi was warm and welcoming.

Shōyō walked up to her and bowed his head. “Hello, are you Kageyama-san?” he asked, just to make sure.

“Ah, you must be Hinata-kun,” she replied with a gentle smile. “I've heard a lot about you.”

Shōyō straightened his back, feeling slightly puzzled. “You have?”

“Tobio talks about you a lot.”

An involuntary smile crept up on Shōyō's face, which he quickly tried to hide. Kageyama was probably just complaining about him, whenever he got home from work. Shōyō really shouldn't get his hopes up.

He threw her bag over his shoulder and asked, “So... Should we get going?”

“Be a dear and help me up,” Kageyama-san said. Shōyō held out his arm for her to hold on to. While she was sitting, he hadn't even realised how fragile she was, but she was really wobbly on her feet. Now Shōyō knew why Kageyama had been so worried about her having to go home on her own.

“Is it far to your house?” he asked, steadying her with both hands.

“It's just five blocks down the road,” she assured him. Heaving an inner sigh of relief, he lead her out of the hospital.

“It's very nice of you to help me,” she said as they made their slow way towards her home. “Tobio told me that you had to find a replacement for your shift today.”

“Oh, it's not a problem at all!” Shōyō exclaimed instantly. “Your grandson needs to focus on his exams and I don't mind walking with you for a bit. Sawamura-san doesn't mind either.”

In fact Sawamura had seemed really happy being able to work with Sugawara-san today.

“I should be glad that Tobio has such a nice boyfriend, shouldn't I?”

It took a while for Shōyō to register what Kageyama's grandma had just said and when he did, he froze up, stopping in the middle of the pavement. 

“What? I... I think this is... This is a misunderstanding! Um... I'm not his... his boyfriend,” he stuttered, feeling the heat rise up on his cheeks. His entire head had to be glowing red! How the hell did she come to the conclusion that he was going out with her grandson?

“Oh, no need to be shy!” The elderly lady laughed. “I may be old, but I'm not old-fashioned.”

“But... He... We're really not together!” Shōyō wished that there was such a thing as a teleportation spell, because he wanted to be anywhere else, just not here. Especially when he saw the smile on Kageyama-san's face falter. He just couldn't deal with the disappointment in her eyes!

“Oh... I just assumed, since Tobio seems to be taking after his father... I'm really sorry.”

Shōyō wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean, but he forced himself to start walking again. 

“I'm not offended,” he mumbled.

Kageyama's grandma sighed and shook her head. “But I do think Tobio likes you.” Shōyō highly doubted that, but a small part of himself rejoiced at hearing those words. Of course, he immediately tried to silence that voice in his head. He was _not_ in love with Kageyama. 

“When Isamu met Tobio's mother he was always talking about how annoying she was, you know?” Kageyama-san explained. “And they always had some kind of competition going, but then one day he introduced her to me as his girlfriend.”

“Um... What happened to them?” Shōyō asked, unable to keep his curiosity at bay. “Kageyama never talks about his parents.”

A sad smile played around her lips.

“Tobio's mother died of a heart attack, when he was eight. My son died in a car crash six months later.”

Shōyō's eyes went wide. “I... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked.”

“It's alright.”

They remained silent for the rest of the way. Shōyō was glad when they reached the Kageyamas' house. He helped her remove her shoes and put on her slippers and lead her into the living room, where she sat down on the couch.

“Is there anything else I can do? Should I make tea?”

Kageyama's grandma shook her head. “Thank you very much, but I just want to lie down for a bit. Walking is always very tiring for me.”

“Okay. I wish you a fast recovery.” Shōyō bowed.

“Thank you. It was nice meeting you, Hinata-kun.”

Relief washed over Shōyō as soon as the front door clicked shut behind him. This had been a lot more awkward than he had expected.

 

***

 

As soon as his exams were finished for the day, Tobio rushed to the shoe lockers. English had been a disaster, but he was rather confident about history. There had been a lot of questions concerning the women's rights movement and their involvement in bringing down the laws that forbid women from learning certain forms of magic. His grandma had been part of that movement, so of course he knew pretty much everything about it. He wanted to get back to her quickly to make sure that Hinata had brought her home safely.

Tobio put on his shoes and was already on his way outside, when someone put a hand on his arm. He was already about to shake it off, when he heard a familiar voice.

“Kageyama-kun?”

It was just Yachi. He turned around to see her smile at him timidly.

“Um, hello,” he said, not quite sure what his co-worker would want to talk to him about. “What do you want?” Crap, that had sounded way more unfriendly than he had expected, but Yachi didn't seem to mind.

“Yesterday, when you came to the café there were these two guys,” she said, her voice almost a whisper. “They always suppress their auras, which I think is weird. Sawamura-sensei told me not to worry about them, but... They seemed really interested in you. As soon as you came in they stopped their conversation and it seemed like they were listening in on your talk with Sensei...”

An uneasy feeling spread through Tobio's stomach at Yachi's words.

“Why are you telling me this?”

She nervously bit her lip, looking away from Tobio's eyes. “Because I want you to be careful. I have a really bad feeling about those guys and I don't want you to get hurt.”

“What did they look like?” Tobio asked. 

“Really ordinary. They always look like they are coming out of an office and other than their auras, there's nothing remarkable about them,” she replied. Tobio had to agree that that seemed really suspicious. 

“Okay, I'll be watching out for men in suits,” he told her. “But I really need to get going. My grandma is probably waiting for me.”

Yachi nodded. “Take care.”

“Bye.”

 

When Tobio entered the living room, his grandma was lying on the couch, fast asleep. She looked peaceful for once, so he went to get her blanket and covered her with it, so she wouldn't catch a cold. He looked at the clock over the TV. He'd go upstairs and study for an hour before making dinner.

 

“Tobio?” Grandma's voice sounded a little sleepy. Tobio had probably woken her up with all the noise he was making in the kitchen. 

“Yes?”

“We need to talk,” she said, coming into the kitchen and watching him stir the vegetables in the pan.

“About what?” Did he forget something?

“Do you like Hinata-kun?”

That was the last thing Tobio expected. He whipped his head around and almost dropped his spatula. “What? Hinata? I... Why would you ask that?!”

He wasn't sure what was more shocking – that she thought he was gay or that she thought he would like _Hinata_. Of all the people in the world, that guy was probably the one Tobio complained about the most! Admittedly, he wasn't as annoying as he used to be in the beginning, and sometimes he did really nice things, like picking up Grandma, but that didn't mean Tobio had to like him.

“There's nothing wrong with being gay, dear,” his grandma said, causing Tobio to let out a frustrated groan. He turned back to the fried vegetables.

“I don't like anyone,” he mumbled, turning off the heat and distributing the food into two bowls, one for him and one for Grandma.

“Tobio, please don't act like you don't care.” Her words were followed by a heavy sigh. “I don't want you to be alone.”

Grumbling, he carried the bowls over to the table and got out the chopsticks. “I'm not alone. I have you.”

Tobio tried to ignore the sad expression on his grandmother's face. He knew what she wanted to say, but he didn't want to hear it.

She was not going anywhere any time soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on tumblr, if you like reblogs of Haikyuu!! and One Punch Man...^^


	9. Shook up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again this has only been edited by me, but I couldn't wait to put this out there. The new tags are now very much relevant...

Finals were over, which meant that finally the café was fully staffed again. Ya-chan had managed to get top grades in most of her subjects, but Kageyama barely managed to pass most of them. Everyone had been really surprised, though, when they saw his good grade in history, since nobody had known he was interested in that subject.

Shōyō definitely liked work better, when he actually had the time to socialise with the customers, instead of rushing from one table to another, because he was the only waiter. But it also meant that Kageyama was back, and Shōyō really couldn't decide whether that was a bad thing or not. 

“Thanks for helping my grandma last week,” Kageyama said, pointedly looking anywhere but at Shōyō's face.

“It wasn't a big deal. You're grandma's nice...” When she's not trying to play matchmaker, Shōyō added in his head. “She didn't say anything bad about me, did she?” he asked, just to make sure.

Kageyama's eyes went wide for a second, but then the usual frown was back on his face and he shook his head.

“Kageyama, could you please take care of the customers at table five?” Tadashi said, interrupting the conversation. Kageyama nodded, immediately switching into work mode. He straightened his back and put on a neutral expression (the universal consensus was that Kageyama was not allowed to smile at work any longer), before stepping out from behind the counter. Shōyō watched him take the orders of a couple that had to be roughly the same age as Kageyama. They barely seemed to pay attention to him, only having eyes for each other, which clearly got on Kageyama's nerves, but thankfully he managed to stay calm until he went back to the counter.

“A cappuccino and an espresso for the two dumbasses,” he grumbled quietly.

Shōyō laughed. “Let them be. They are just lovestruck.”

Either Shōyō's eyes were playing tricks on him, or Kageyama actually did flinch when hearing the word “love”.

“Have you never been in love?” Shōyō asked, while preparing the couple's order. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could confirm that Kageyama flinched again.

“No. I'm not stupid...”

Shōyō huffed and shoved the finished cups of coffee into Kageyama's hands. 

“I'm not stupid either, but I've been in love a couple of times already!”

Kageyama looked like he was about to argue, but thought better of it when Kiyoko-san showed up to take over from Shōyō.

“You can go upstairs if you want,” she told him. “Good work today.”

“Thank you. I'll take out the trash before I go, though,” he offered, and was rewarded with one of Kiyoko-san's beautiful smiles.

With a slight spring in his step, he went into the kitchen, picked up the trash bag, and carried it out back. Holding his breath, he opened the container and dumped the trash inside. He was just about to head back inside, when he heard an all too familiar voice.

“Hey, Shōyō-kun.”

A flood of memories rushed through his brain, making him freeze up. He wanted to run, but his legs wouldn't budge. He couldn't tell if he was paralysed by fear or by a spell, but the result was the same.

When Kenta's hand touched Shōyō's shoulder, he closed his eyes and prayed for help.

 

***

 

Hinata was taking way too long to take out the trash and that was making Tobio antsy. He kept checking the kitchen to see whether he was back or not, but he only ever saw Yamaguchi.

“Is something wrong, Kageyama?” Tobio's co-worker asked at one point, looking concerned.

“Did Hinata come back from taking out the trash?”

“No, I don't think so.” A worried expression appeared on his face.

“I'll go check if anything happened,” Tobio decided and went out the back door. What he saw out there made his temper flare up like wildfire. 

Hinata was backed up against a wall, eyes wide with obvious terror. A tall figure with dark brown hair was leaning over him. Tobio felt a vague sense of familiarity, despite not being able to see the man's face. Determinedly he grabbed his shoulder, pulling him away from frightened Hinata.

When he saw his face, Tobio instantly knew that this was Hinata's abusive ex-boyfriend.

“Hey, don't touch me!” Kenta yelled, but Tobio had no intention of letting him go. He had promised Hinata that he'd help him if this asshole showed up again.

“What do you want from Hinata?”

“That's none of your business!” Kenta bellowed, but Tobio just tightened his grip on the guys shoulder.

“I will not let you hurt him again.” He barely recognised his own voice, when his words came out like a snarl. The words for a fire spell were on the tip of his tongue and he had difficulties to swallow them down. This was not the time for a magic duel. He really didn't want to add a criminal record to his abysmal chances of ever finding another job.

“Let go of me!” Kenta threw a punch with his free arm, but Tobio managed to dodge.

“Only if you swear never to come here again!”

Suddenly, the back door burst open, revealing Yamaguchi, who was holding up his cell phone.

“If you do not get lost this instant, I will call the police!”

That seemed to be enough. Kenta ripped Tobio's hand away from his shoulder and ran for it.

Hinata was shaking like a leaf, his hands clawing at the wall, like he was trying to get a grip on reality.

Tobio wanted to ask if everything was alright, but Yamguchi beat him to it.

“Did he do anything to you?”

Hinata shook his head, seemingly unable to speak.

“I'll make you a cup of tea,” Tobio offered, trying not to feel useless.

 

***

 

It took a while for Shōyō to calm down again. Kageyama had come at just the right moment – one second later and Kenta would have managed to glamour Shōyō. Kenta never used the subtle glamours Sawamura-sensei taught, or the unintentionally dazzling ones that Kiyoko-san had a knack for. No, his glamours made you agree to everything and left you with no free will. Shōyō knew them all too well.

He shook his head in an attempt to get the painful images out of his mind and took a sip of his already cold tea. 

“How are you feeling?” Sawamura asked, sitting down on the couch, deliberately keeping his distance from the younger man. Shōyō was glad, because he wasn't sure whether he could deal with physical contact right now.

“Terrible.”

“Are you sure you don't want to press charges? Suga said that there are ways to detect forceful glamours if the victim cooperates.”

“I'm _not_ a victim,” Shōyō growled. 

His teacher sighed. “That's not what I'm trying to say, and you know it.”

“I don't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing how much he fucked me up,” Shōyō said, voice trembling.

“So you'll let him get away with it.” Sawamura sounded resigned. “Your lesson is cancelled for today. Drink your tea and go get some rest.”

Shōyō nodded and picked up his cup again. He didn't want to be alone tonight, but he wasn't going to tell Sawamura-sensei about it. Shōyō didn't want to worry his teacher. Sawamura had enough problems of his own, especially since he had to cover the bill for the repairs in the kitchen.

 

Shōyō barely slept that night. Being so close to Kenta had brought back all the memories he'd tried to forget. It had taken him two years of therapy with Sugawara-san to get to a point where he was comfortable with being in a relationship with a guy again. Not that any relationship had lasted long after the thing with Kenta. His ex-boyfriends and ex-girlfriends hadn't been able to deal with his trauma in the long run. Shōyō never blamed them.

Sighing, he grabbed his phone from the bedside table to see what time it was – 3:26. When he put it back down again, his fingertips brushed against something cold. Frowning, he grabbed it and in the dim light of the the street lamps that came through his window, he could see the little metal crow Kageyama had made for him. Suddenly, Shōyō's chest felt tight. He curled up underneath his blanket, clutching the crow to his heart, thinking about how Kageyama's grandma thought that Kageyama liked him. A part of him desperately wanted that to be true. The other part was scared that he'd leave him like all the others had done before. 

 

***

 

Tadashi didn't like the dark rings under Hinata's eyes, when they started their shift together the next morning. He also didn't like the forced cheerfulness his friend and co-worker expressed, but he didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't really confront Hinata about it when they were working, could he?

Maybe Yachi would know what to do, when she would join them around lunch time.

 

***

 

When Hitoka heard from Yamaguchi about what had happened the day before, she was shocked. From that moment on, she constantly kept an eye on Shōyō's aura. It was dull, flickering between grey and brown. It worried her immensely, but for once she had no idea how to comfort him. 

She couldn't tell him that she'd make sure that Kenta never bothered him again, or that he'd one day be able to forget what happened in the past. All Hitoka had to offer was silent company and the occasional smile. And maybe that was enough, because steadily Shōyō's aura stopped flickering. It didn't turn back to it's usual bright orange, but at least it was calm.

They went about their work like always, serving coffee, tea and sandwiches, greeting customers and cleaning tables, until lunchtime was over.

“Good work, everyone,” Shōyō said as he took off his apron. “Kageyama will probably be here soon, so I'll head upstairs, if you don't mind.”

“You should probably take a nap,” Yamaguchi suggested. “You look exhausted.”

Hitoka nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah, you're probably right.” Shōyō waved them goodbye and made his way upstairs.

Hitoka and Yamaguchi exchanged worried looks.

“We should make sure that he's not alone for too long,” Yamaguchi suggested. Hitoka couldn't agree more.

 

***

 

Tobio was on edge, when he left the house for work. Since he'd left the Black Feather yesterday, he had spent every single minute worrying about Hinata. He wanted to see him, wanted to make sure he was fine.

He'd made another crow sculpture out of a nicely coloured rock he had found on his way home, because Hinata had seemed so happy about the last one. Maybe it would cheer him up.

Tobio sped up his steps until he was almost running towards the café. He took a short cut through a play ground, jumping over one end of a see-saw and alarming the two kids who were building castles in the sandbox. He was a little out of breath when he finally reached his destination. He went inside and was immediately greeted by a smiling Yachi.

He replied with a nod and immediately went to put on his apron. 

“Is Hinata around?” he asked, tying a knot behind his back.

“He went upstairs,” Yachi replied. “He's still really shaken up by what happened yesterday.”

Tobio nodded. He'd go visit him during his break.

 

Tobio hadn't expected to see Yamaguchi sitting on the couch next to Hinata, so he stopped short in the doorway.

“Hi, Kageyama,” Yamaguchi said, when he noticed him. “Are you on break?”

Hinata instantly whipped his head around, eyes weary.

“Hello,” Tobio said. “Sorry for the intrusion.”

“It's fine,” Hinata mumbled, pulling his knees against his chest. “Thanks for yesterday.”

This would have been easier if their co-worker hadn't been there, but Tobio decided to ignore the embarrassment and pulled the grey crow out of his pocket.

“This is for you,” he muttered and held out his hand to Hinata. Tobio could feel his ears glow, when he saw Yamguchi raise a hand to his mouth to hide the little smirk that had appeared on his face.

But it was definitely worth it to see Hinata's face light up like that. 

“You made this for me?” the older boy asked, his golden eyes gleaming with excitement.

“Yeah, I thought it might cheer you up a little...” Tobio admitted, turning his face towards the ground. What was this damned fuzzy feeling he got whenever Hinata looked at him like that? He'd never felt like this before. 

“Thank you! Come sit down with us,” Hinata suggested, sliding towards Yamaguchi to make space for Tobio. “We were just talking about how Sawamura-san totally has the hots for Sugawara.”

“I haven't met Sugawara-san yet,” Tobio admitted, feeling slightly awkward as he sat down next to Hinata.

“Sugawara-sensei used to be my therapist, and whenever Sawamura picked me up from the sessions he was waaay too excited!”

Tobio couldn't help but notice how Yamaguchi kept on sneaking worried glances in his direction throughout Hinata's rant about their teacher's love life. Tobio had to admit that there was something off about Hinata's enthusiasm. It seemed almost forced. He wished he was better at auras, so he could see Hinata's, but no matter how much he concentrated, he couldn't see a thing. 

After twenty minutes it was time for Tobio to get back to work, so he got up.

“I need to help out downstairs now,” he said.

“I need to get going as well.” Yamaguchi followed Tobio's example and stood up. “My mother's probably wondering where I'm at.”

“Oh...” Hinata looked a little disappointed, but there was no helping it, Tobio couldn't leave Yachi alone downstairs.

“Well, have a nice day, you two.”

After they had put on their shoes and were out in the stairway, Yamguchi let out a huge sigh. “Do you think you could keep him company this evening? I know you need to take care of your grandma and all, but Sawamura said that he'd be meeting up with a potential investor tonight, and I don't think we should leave Hinata alone for very long. I'd do it myself, but I need to watch my siblings while my mother is out.”

“Um...” Grandma had been fine this morning, she had even managed to eat an entire bowl of rice for breakfast. Maybe it would be okay to leave her alone today. “I'll call my grandma and see how she's doing...”

“Thank you.” Yamaguchi gave Tobio a pat on the back. “It's good to see that you two are actually starting to get along, you know...”

Tobio didn't know what to say to that, so he just stayed quiet and contemplated the fact that his grandma might actual be right about him liking Hinata.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor baby crows :( I promise everything will be alright in the end...
> 
> Thanks for all the kudos etc :)


	10. Big Mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't stop writing and editing, so I might as well post the next chapter... I'm sorry in advance ;_;

Shōyō opened his fourth can of beer despite the guilt he'd be feeling when Sawamura would find him drunk off his ass in their living room. He needed distraction, and alcohol was the best way to go about that. Usually, Shōyō would've gone for sake, but he had finished the rest that was in the bottle in record time and he was too lazy to go to the convenience store. In the end it didn't matter anyway. He already felt the buzz of being drunk. His thoughts were starting to get sluggish and wandered to more pleasant places than the past.

After downing half the can he put it on the table in front of the couch, right next to his growing murder of crows. He slipped down from the couch, so he was kneeling in front of the table and could take a closer look at the small figurines. They were only about three centimetres big, but somehow held a crazy amount of detail. Kageyama sure was a genius when it came to transfiguration. Shōyō picked up the black one and turned it over in his fingers. In the artificial light of the lamp the metal had a blue sheen to it. It was cold to the touch at first, but was quickly warmed up by his fingers. He took the new stone crow in his other hand. It was a nice stone, smooth to the touch, dark grey with a little orange streak. Compared to the other one, it looked a lot less grumpy. Shōyō snickered at that thought. It was like the crows had their own personalities.

He put them down again and took another deep gulp from his can of beer. It was starting to get stale, so he decided to drink it quickly. Maybe he'd be able to sleep if he was drunk enough...

A text notification ripped him out of his thoughts.

 

From: Hinata Natsu <3

>Sry that I didn't come by last week, but mum's bf was sick, so they didn't go out. But they are meeting up tomorrow, so be prepared! :D

 

Since this emotional roller coaster had started, Shōyō had totally forgot to think about his sister. At least she had been sensible enough not to visit him when their mother wasn't busy and could potentially follow her. That woman was crazy like that. Crazy enough to throw out her son without a second thought.

Shōyō sighed and drank the rest of his beer. He didn't want to think about any of this right now.

 

***

 

Tobio had called his grandmother and asked her if it was okay to stay with Hinata for a while. She had sounded really happy when she assured him that she would be fine on her own. Tobio wasn't sure, though, if _he_ would be fine. The thought that he might actually have a crush on his older co-worker had distracted him the entire time he was toasting sandwiches in the kitchen.

The only comfort he had was that at least Hinata wouldn't be disgusted by him if he ever found out. Hinata was bisexual after all, so he wouldn't think that it was strange that Tobio liked him. Or would he? Tobio shook his head. He needed to focus on closing up the café. He needed to put away the perishables and clean the kitchen before he could go back upstairs.

He was definitely playing for time with how diligently he made sure that every surface in the kitchen was clean. Only when everything was absolutely spotless, did he take off his apron and make his way upstairs to Sawamura-san's flat. 

His teacher and Hinata never seemed to lock their front door, so Tobio didn't bother knocking. He entered, yelling “Sorry for the intrusion,” and took off his shoes in the entryway. He received an unintelligible grumble for an answer. Scowling, he went into the living room to see Hinata sprawled out on the floor in front of the couch. There were four empty cans of beer and an empty bottle of sake standing on the coffee table.

The sight was vaguely familiar. The only difference was that the drunk person sleeping on the floor back then had been Tobio's father and not a short redhead.

“Goddamn it, you dumbass,” Tobio scolded and prodded Hinata's side with his foot. “Getting shitfaced is never the right answer.”

Hinata groaned and rolled onto his side. “Llleave me alone,” he mumbled, slurring his words.

“Come on, get up.” Tobio folded his arms in front of his chest. He couldn't believe that he had a crush on an idiot like this. “At least lie down on the couch. Or even better – in your bed.”

Hinata let out another groan. Instead of making an effort to get up, he curled up into a little ball of misery. “I feel shick.”

“You drank two litres of beer, of course you'll be sick!” Tobio exclaimed exasperatedly. It seemed he was getting nowhere with words, so he kneeled down and put his arms under Hinata's body.

“Whadde fuck are you doing?” 

“Bringing you to bed,” Tobio explained and lifted Hinata up, but the smaller one instantly started to struggle.

“Holy shit, put me down!”

“Where's your room?” Tobio asked, unfazed by his co-worker's futile attempts at freeing himself. Hinata was kinda strong for his size, but he had nothing on Tobio.

Moaning, Hinata put a hand over his face and stopped resisting. “Itsh the door neksht to Shawamura's office.”

“Alright.”

Tobio carried him through the hallway and pushed open the door with his foot. He let Hinata fall onto the bed with a thump and looked down at him. One of Hinata's hands was balled into a tight fist, like he was holding on to something.

“Should I bring you some water?” Tobio asked. Although he thought that trying to drink away his worries was stupid of Hinata, he felt bad for him. The past twenty-four hours must have been rough on him. Tobio had no idea what Kenta had exactly done, but he was sure that it must have been awful for Hinata to be so shaken up about it.

“Yesh please,” the redhead mumbled and closed his eyes. At least Tobio knew where the kitchen was, because Sawamura sometimes invited him to stay for coffee after their lessons. He rummaged through the cabinets until he found a glass and filled it with tap water before returning to Hinata's room.

“Here,” he held out the glass. Before taking it, Hinata put the two crow figurines he had been holding on to down on the bedside table. Tobio was confused.

“Why did you...” He didn't even know how to finish that question. He just stared at Hinata, who was taking small sips of water.

“Why did I...?” Hinata repeated slowly.

“The crows...”

“Oh.” Hinata's entire face turned the brightest shade of red Tobio had ever seen on another person. “Erm...” He put down the glass of water next to them. “I... lllike them,” he finally replied, looking like he had to concentrate hard on every single word. “They're realllly... pretty.”

Tobio couldn't believe his own ears. Hinata had probably only said that, because he was drunk, but there it was again, that fuzzy feeling that flooded Tobio's entire body. “I... I'm glad you... like them.”

He sat down next to him and tried to calm himself down. This was bad. He was way too happy about a compliment from a drunk person.

“It... Not just the crowsh,” Hinata mumbled, struggling to sit up. When he finally managed to get his upper body vertical, he slumped against Tobio's shoulder. “I... I li... I like... you.”

And before Tobio knew what was happening, he suddenly felt a pair of soft lips against his own. His heart accelerated to a frightening speed, and his breath got stuck in his throat. Hinata was kissing him. This had to be some kind of weird dream. People didn't just realise that they are in love with someone and then get kissed by that person. That only ever happened in manga and badly written TV dramas. 

And yet Tobio couldn't resist the urge to kiss back. Not that he had any idea what he was doing. It wasn't like he had ever thought about kissing anyone. He leaned in a little and pressed his mouth against Hinata's... And then it was over, because Hinata started roaring with laughter.

“You're... hah... terrible at this,” the redhead said, wheezing for air.

Anger flared up in Tobio. “Then don't just kiss me out of the blue!” he yelled and shoved Hinata's face away. His breath smelled like beer.

“But... you kished back.” Hinata's eyes suddenly went wide, and before Tobio knew what hit him, he was pulled into another kiss. It was sloppy and tasted like alcohol, but Hinata was surprisingly good at it, despite his drunken state. Tobio felt himself relax, and let himself be pulled down onto the bed. He had always thought that sticking your tongue into another person's mouth was kinda disgusting, but now that it was happening to him, he didn't mind at all. It made him feel dizzy with all kinds of emotions that he didn't have names for yet.

Without thinking, Tobio threaded his fingers through Hinata's hair. It felt as fluffy and nice as it looked. Hinata made a small sound of approval and wrapped his arms around Tobio's neck, holding him close.

Tobio wanted this kiss to last forever...

 

***

 

Shōyō's head was throbbing like someone had repeatedly smashed it against a wall and his stomach was all twisted up, but the rest of his body felt extremely warm and comfortable, like he was lying in the arms of his non-existent lover. He vaguely remembered drinking half a bottle of sake and four cans of beer before Kageyama showed up...

Wait a second.

Shōyō forced his eyes open and found himself staring at a naked, male chest. Holy shit. Had he gone out yesterday? He couldn't remember. He racked his brain, but his memory was full of black spots. He remembered staring at his crows and that Kageyama had come into the living room and then... What had happened then? And who was the guy in his bed?!

Careful not to wake his sleeping companion, Shōyō moved his head to look at his face.

Hell no. He let out a strangled sound, but Kageyama just grumbled in his sleep and kept his eyes shut.

What had he done to him? Did they...

_ Did I force myself on him? _

Shōyō felt like throwing up. Oh no. Hell no, he wasn't any better than Kenta. He forced himself on one of the most innocent guys he knew! Fuck! Shōyō wanted to scream, but he couldn't bear to wake Kageyama. What would he say, when he woke up? He'd probably hate Shōyō for what he'd done!

This had been the biggest mistake Shōyō had ever made, even worse than falling for Kenta. 

His eyes were starting to sting, but Shōyō didn't allow himself to cry. He had no right to cry, not after what he'd done to the boy he liked. 

And so Shōyō simply lay there, waiting for Kageyama to wake up on his own.

It felt like ages until he finally started moving. Shōyō could see him wrinkle his nose and yawn, before, slowly, he opened his eyes.

Shōyō could feel his stomach churning painfully, when their gazes met.

“Please forget that this ever happened,” he choked out. “Please.”

 

***

 

A punch to the gut would have been pleasant compared to what Tobio felt when he stumbled down the staircase at the Black Feather. The pain only reached him now, approximately a minute after Hinata had said the worst thing anybody had ever said to Tobio in his entire life. He knew about all the stupid rumours the other students had been spreading about him at school, but that was nothing.

“I'm not going to forget,” Tobio muttered as he left the building through the back door, in the clothes he had worn to work the day before. Was it really a walk of shame, if he hadn't had sex? They had spent hours sharing kisses, until Hinata asked him if he could stay the night, because he feared being alone. Tobio had even called his grandma to ask if it was fine. She'd been happy.

And now this.

Tobio started running. He wanted to get away as fast as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So many misunderstandings ;_; You didn't even do anything Hinata! *sobs in a corner* Why am I doing this to myself?


	11. Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a filler chapter, but Natsu makes her first actual appearance, so I hope that makes up for nothing else happening xD I also made a [playlist](https://play.spotify.com/user/gilrael/playlist/1wkNKDL0QD2RziRq0qJXvR) on spotify, if anyone is interested in knowing what music I'm listening to, when I write this.

Daichi could've sworn that he saw Kageyama's shoes in the entryway when he'd come home last night, but maybe he'd just dreamt that up. His new investor had tried to drink him under the table after they'd sealed the deal, so maybe he'd seen double and there'd been just one pair of shoes. He shook his head and went into the kitchen to make himself some coffee. Not that it would help all that much with his hangover, but at least he'd feel a little more awake then.

As Daichi watched the coffee drip into his cup, the phone in his office rang. Groaning, he marched over there to pick up the call.

“Black Feather café, Sawamura Daichi speaking. How can I help you?” he said lamely, suppressing a yawn.

“Sawamura-san? This is Kageyama Megumi. I'm Tobio's grandmother.”

“Oh, Kageyama-san! How are you?” Daichi said, feeling a little curious why Kageyama's grandma was calling him.

“I'm fine, thank you,” she replied politely. “I'm afraid that Tobio is not fit for work today.”

Daichi immediately opened the book where he had written down the time table with everyone's shifts. Kageyama would've been working at lunch time, together with Shimizu and Yachi. He'd just ask Hinata to help out today, problem solved.

“Oh, alright. Is he sick?”

Kageyama's grandma seemed to hesitate. “I... I'm not exactly sure what happened, but yesterday evening he called to tell me that he'd be staying with Hinata-kun, then fifteen minutes ago he came running into the house. He's been crying in his room ever since and won't tell me what is going on.”

All the alarm bells in Daichi's head had started going off when he had heard Hinata's name.

“I'll talk to Hinata,” he promised.

“I hope Tobio won't get in trouble because of this.”

“Don't worry, don't worry.” Daichi waved his hand dismissively, only to stop when he realised that Kageyama-san couldn't see him. “He's still a teenager. These things happen sometimes. Thanks for giving me a heads up, though.”

“You're welcome. I think I'll try to talk to him again now.”

“Alright, good luck with that. Have a nice day.”

“Goodbye.”

Daichi hung up the phone and immediately went into Hinata's room. He was about to demand an explanation, but then he saw him sobbing into his pillow. Daichi hadn't seen him like this in years. 

“Erm... Hinata?” he said, carefully approaching him. “Are you alright?”

“I'm an asshole!”

Daichi stopped in the middle of the room, unsure how to proceed. He decided to go the direct route. Hinata wasn't always the brightest kid, so asking roundabout questions would lead them nowhere. “Kageyama's grandma called. Apparently, Kageyama's crying in his room. Do you have any idea why he's doing that?”

Hinata grabbed his blanket and pulled it over his head. “Because I'm an asshole like Kenta.” His words were followed by a heart-shattering wail. 

Cautiously, Daichi sat dawn on Hinata's bed and put a hand on the lump he assumed was Hinata's shoulder under the blanket. 

“Care to tell me what happened?”

“No.”

_ That _ didn't bode well at all.

 

***

 

“And remember to lock the front door after you leave!” Natsu's mother said, as she put on her shoes in the entryway of their small family home.

“Of course,” Natsu reassured her. “Have fun on your date!”

“Thanks.” And with that Hinata Ayame left the house. Natsu heaved a heavy sigh of relief. Her mother was quite a bit of work with her constant paranoia. There was little that Natsu was allowed to do without supervision, and those things were mainly going to school and meeting up with the girls from her school. She couldn't use the computer without her mother being in the same room and she checked the messages on her phone regularly. If Natsu resisted, she'd be grounded immediately. What she was going to do today could end up being quite dangerous.

Determinedly, she went up into her room, grabbed her favourite bag and threw in her phone, wallet and keys. Then she looked out of the window until she saw her mother's car disappear around a corner. Excitedly, she rushed down the stairs, put on the yellow shoes she had bought the last time she went shopping with Shōyō-nii. Natsu treasured everything that somehow reminded her of her brother, because there were few things in the house left that would suggest to a stranger that Ayame ever had a son. She had burned all the photos and started remodelling Shōyō's room right after kicking him out. The only thing that was left was his bicycle, the greyish blue one he used to ride to school. Nowadays it was Natsu's only way of seeing her brother. There were only few buses that crossed the mountains and asking her mother to drive her to see him was another thing that would get her grounded.

So she locked up the front door behind her, grabbed the bike and got ready for the thirty minute bike ride that would lead her to the Black Feather. The hardest part was getting to the mountain pass, form then on it was all downhill. She'd had to change the brakes once, because they were worn out. It was tricky, but nothing she couldn't handle. If Shōyō ever wanted his bike back, it'd be in top condition. Natsu would make sure of that. 

 

Entering the Black Feather, Natsu was greeted by the smell of coffee and the tinkle of a little bell over her head. A lot of people were seated at the tables and Sawamura-san was standing behind the counter, wearing a black apron.

“Welcome to the Black Feather, how can I– Oh, Natsu!” he exclaimed and looked her up an down. “It's been ages, I almost didn't recognise you. You've grown haven't you?”

“Yeah, a little bit at least,” she replied, smiling. “Is Shōyō-nii upstairs?”

A worried look crossed Sawamura's face. “He is, but... Uh... He's not in a great mood.”

“Did something happen?” Natsu frowned. Her brother had been through so much and she couldn't stand the thought of him being unhappy again.

“ _Something_ happened, but he won't tell us about it. Maybe you'll have more luck.” Sawamura-san shrugged helplessly. “You know the way upstairs, don't you?”

“Yeah...” Natsu wasn't really listening anymore, she was already on her way behind the counter, where a door lead to a stairway. She took two steps at a time until she reached the door to Sawamura-san's flat. She went inside, kicked off her shoes without much care and rushed to her brother's room. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

Goodness, he already sounded bad. Slowly, she opened the door and peered inside the small room. Shōyō was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling like it held all the answers to every question ever asked. Usually, he would've been curious about who was entering his room, but he didn't even glance in her direction.

“Hello, nii-chan,” Natsu said, causing him to almost jump out of bed.

“Natsu? What are you doing here?” he asked her, surprise written all over his face.

“I sent you a text last night. Didn't you get it?” She didn't like how pale he looked. Maybe he was sick? No, that couldn't be the case. He would've told his teacher if he was sick. Whatever had happened, it must have taken its toll on Shōyō.

“Uh... I was... busy yesterday, so I must have missed it.” He smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head.

“Did... did something happen last night?” Natsu asked and sat down at the edge of her brother's bed.

“No no no! Everything is fine!” he insisted, nervous laughter breaking out of him.

“But Sawamura-san said...” At the mention of his teacher, Shōyō groaned and threw himself back onto his pillow. 

“He put you up to this, didn't he?”

“Not really. I wanted to see you, so I came here as soon as mum left for her date.”

Another noise of frustration rang inside Natsu's ear. “This is dangerous, Natsu. Don't you remember what happened the last time she caught you visiting me?”

Natsu did remember, but she wouldn't allow herself to think about it.

“That's not gonna happen this time,” she insisted. “This time Sayuri-chan and her mother will cover for me, if she calls them.” She sighed. Shōyō-nii had always been there for her, when she needed a shoulder to cry on. She wanted to pay him back. “You can tell me if something's wrong, you know?”

“Ugh, I fucked up and now I feel like crap,” he replied tersely. “That's all you need to know. Let's talk about something else, please. How was your middle school graduation?”

Natsu felt a little sad that her brother wouldn't open up to her, but she knew when to stop prying. He didn't want to talk about what happened, but maybe she could at least cheer him up a bit.

“I was so happy that I accidentally released a gust of wind and knocked over some of the boys,” she said, grinning at the memory. “You should've seen their faces! They were all like _whoa_! And then the teachers scolded me, of course, but it's not my fault that I can't control it yet...”

 

***

 

Talking to his little sister was a welcome distraction to Shōyō. He didn't have to think about what he did to Kageyama and how it made him the biggest asshole on the entire planet. He could just listen to her excited voice, while she talked about the spells their mother had taught her. Natsu was a small ray of sunshine in his otherwise bleak and dreary world. He really missed the days, when she would sneak into his room at night, dragging her futon behind her, because she'd had a nightmare. Then he'd make up stories for her, until she fell asleep.

But she wasn't an elementary school kid anymore. In a week she would start high school. She probably knew how to deal with nightmares by herself now. She was growing up so fast and Shōyō barely was around to witness it.

“Have you thought about what academy you want to go to after school?” he asked her. “Sawamura-sensei has some connections to Nekoma and Fukur ōdani in Tokyo, so maybe they could work out a scholarship for you or something. It probably won't be enough to get by, but I've been saving up some money for you...”  Shōyō trailed off as soon as he noticed that Natsu wasn't meeting his eyes anymore.

“Um, that's really nice of you, nii-chan,” she said slowly. “But... I think I'd like to study here.”

“Oh, you mean at Karasuno?” He was kinda surprised. The local academy wasn't very renown for its high standards in education, at least compared to the other academies in the prefecture. “Sawamura-san and Sugawara-san went there, so I guess it's not as bad as everyone's saying...”

Natsu shook her head, making her red ponytails bounce. “No, I'm not talking about Karasuno.” She was biting her lower lip, staring down at the hands she had folded in her lap. “I'm talking about the Black Feather.”

“No.” Shōyō would not let that happen. He would not let his sister throw away her future. “Sawamura-sensei is great, but he's not an actual teacher.”

“But–” Natsu tried to protest, but Shōyō cut her off.

“You won't get an official diploma here. It's alright for me, I'm not all that great at figuring out this magic stuff anyway, but you are seriously talented,” he tried to reason with her. “I know that going to an academy is expensive and time consuming, but it'll be worth it in the end.”

“But if I go to Tokyo, I won't be able to see you anymore,” she whispered, eyes still downcast.

Sighing, Shōyō put an arm around her shoulder. “I could go to visit you sometimes. And there's always the winter holidays and summer break for you to come home. And we could talk on the phone. Mum won't be there to monitor your texts and calls anymore.”

Natsu nodded, but she didn't look convinced. Well, there were still three more years of high school left to persuade her to make the right decision.

 

***

 

Tobio was staring at the ceiling. Now that he was done crying, he felt numb and empty. When was the last time he'd cried? Probably back in middle school, after his volleyball team had abandoned him.

Ugh, that was not a pleasant memory, but it wasn't half as bad as finally finding someone he actually liked and then having his heart ripped out.

But that was life. Nothing ever went well for Tobio. Dead parents, sick grandma, terrible marks in his high school diploma, having feelings for a dumbass that got his hopes up before crushing them – it all added up perfectly. Maybe he was cursed, like the kids at school had always said.

He turned on his side to look at his alarm clock. 

16:31

He'd missed work without calling in.

Damn it.

Everything sucked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can also find me on [tumblr](http://gilrael.tumblr.com)


	12. Blackout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm feeling sick, so instead of going to uni, I spent the entire morning editing this chapter...

Spending time with Natsu had helped a little, but Shōyō could still feel the guilt gnawing at him. It was like a constant stomach ache. The fact that Kageyama didn't show up to work for two days in a row didn't help either. To make up for it, Shōyō threw himself into work like a madman, although he barely slept at night. Everyone seemed worried about him and that made him feel even more guilty. He wasn't the one they should be worrying about. This was all his fault. He didn't deserve compassion.

 

The day Kageyama came back to work, Shōyō couldn't look him in the eyes. He only talked when it was absolutely necessary. Shōyō told himself that he had to do this for Kageyama's sake. He knew how it had felt whenever he crossed paths with Kenta at school until the bastard finally graduated. He didn't want Kageyama to go through the same thing.

Shōyō was glad that his shift only overlapped with Kageyama's during lunch, so that they were both busy. The atmosphere was tense enough without them getting a chance to stand around in awkward silence while they waited for customers. 

As soon as the majority of customers finished their lunch breaks and went back to work or school, Shōyō hung up his apron and rushed upstairs.

He felt sick, like he was going to throw up any second. Breathing hard, he went to the medicine cabinet in the bathroom to find something that would calm his stomach. 

Maybe he could ask Sawamura-san to change the shift schedule.

 

***

 

“Hitoka-chan?” Kiyoko-san's soft voice called out. “Could you help me in the kitchen for a second?”

“I'll be right there!” Hitoka answered and quickly finished wiping down the counter. When she turned around, she caught a glimpse of Kageyama-kun's face. His facial expression was as uncomfortable as it had been during lunch time, but Hitoka couldn't change the feeling that his aura had become even more dejected ever since Shōyō had gone upstairs.

Something must have happened between them.

Biting her lip, Hitoka stepped into the kitchen.

Kiyoko-san was leaning against the fridge, her forehead scrunched up in thought.

“You wanted me to help with something?” Hitoka asked.

“Yes. I'm worried about Kageyama-kun,” the older woman replied and tapped her fingertips against the fridge. Hitoka couldn't remember ever seeing her senpai like this.

“Me too,” she admitted.

“Do you think you could talk to him after work today? You're his friend, right?”

“I guess...” Kageyama had been really sociable for a while and he'd helped her and Tadashi with some transfiguration spells. At least it had felt like they were friends.

 

***

 

It was late and Tobio was tired. There'd been so many customers today, more than usual, and he was glad that the day would be over soon.

Kiyoko-san looked at her watch and nodded.

“I think you two should go home now. It's getting dark already and we're almost finished with closing up,” she said, smiling kindly. “I can manage the rest on my own.”

Tobio felt extremely relieved. Working full-time at the café was a lot more fulfilling than going to school had been, but also exhausting, considering that he was still studying magic on the side. It was especially hard now, since... No, he didn't want to think about it. He _wasn't_ going to think about it ever again. It was bad enough that Hinata was avoiding him, Tobio didn't need to remind himself why the redhead was doing it. He wouldn't think about how nice it felt to fall asleep next to Hinata. He wouldn't think about how much it hurt to be rejected the next morning.

Damn it. Now he _was_ thinking about it. Stupid fucking dumbass Hinata.

Silently, Tobio took off his apron and hung it up in its hook by the kitchen door. He really hoped that his mood didn't show on his face.

Yachi-san threw him a concerned look, while she buttoned up her jacket. 

“Oh, and Kageyama-kun...” Kiyoko-san suddenly added.

“Hm?” He didn't really feel like talking right now. He just wanted to go home, eat dinner and sleep.

“You should accompany Hitoka-chan to the bus stop. There've been a bunch of shady characters lurking around here recently.”

“Oh, I'll be fine!” Yachi protested, waving her arms about.

“It would make me feel better if he accompanied you,” Kiyoko-san insisted.

“I don't want to bother Kageyama-kun.”

Tobio couldn't shake the feeling that Yachi wasn't putting much effort into her protest. Maybe she was scared, but didn't want to admit it? Well, whatever. The bus stop wasn't that far away.

“I don't mind,” he said, throwing on his jacket and picking up the bag with leftover sandwiches for Grandma.

“See?” Kiyoko-san turned to Yachi, throwing her a look that Tobio couldn't read. “Good work today.”

“Good work,” Tobio and Yachi replied in unison. 

As they stepped outside, Tobio breathed in the night air. The days were starting to get warmer. Spring was slowly transitioning into summer. Soon it would still be light outside when they closed up in the evenings.

“Can I ask you something?” Yachi's voice was timid and quiet as always, but something felt off. Tobio probably wouldn't have noticed a month ago, but since he'd come to the Black Feather, he'd started paying more attention to the people around him. He still didn't pick up on many things, but with Yachi it was easiest. His co-worker was always broadcasting her emotions and rarely tried to hide them.

“You can,” he said and started walking in the direction of the bus stop.

“Um... I'm sorry if it's too personal, but...” She hesitated for a moment. “Erm... Why are you avoiding Shōyō?”

Hearing Hinata's name felt uncomfortable. “I'm not avoiding him,” Tobio corrected gruffly, “he's avoiding _me_.”

Yachi flinched a little at the tone of his voice.

“You're both avoiding each other,” she mumbled quietly and then, quickly, before Tobio could make another angry remark, she went on, “Did something happen? I mean...” And then the words seemed to simply flow out of her without any restraint. “The two of you don't seem your usual selves and... I'm worried. We're all worried, actually, because... Well, you are our friends and...”

_ Our friends _ . Plural.

“I'm your friend?” Tobio wondered out loud, interrupting Yachi's babbling.

“Of course.” She seemed baffled. “Why wouldn't you be?”

It had been a while since Tobio had had real friends. During high school there'd been too many weird rumours about him. In middle school he'd been on the volleyball team, but his teammates always kept a certain distance from their overachieving setter. There were two kids back in primary school who walked home with him every day. They'd been his friends probably. But then Tobio's parents died and he had to move in with Grandma...

“Thanks,” he mumbled. He liked the thought of Yachi being his friend. She was clumsy and easily scared, but also trustworthy and reliable. She hadn't listened to all the he-said-she-said about him. Maybe he could confide in her. Maybe she'd have advice on how to get over his stupid broken heart.

He was about to open his mouth, when he heard footsteps. Curiously, he turned his head, but before he could see who was walking behind him there was a sharp pain at the back of his head.

And then everything went dark.

 

***

 

Hitoka knew these faces. She'd seen them at the Black Feather. She'd brought them coffee and onigiri. She'd worried about their non-existent auras.

Now they were attacking. They'd gone for Kageyama first, obviously, so they'd have surprise on their side to knock out the bigger threat. With her petite build she probably seemed like an easy target. But they hadn't accounted for one thing – Hitoka's magic instincts that were triggered by the rush of adrenaline that coursed through her body.

One of the first things she'd learned from Sawamura-sensei was how to throw a fireball. He'd insisted on his students being able to defend themselves. Without much thinking, she rubbed her hands together whispered the words for the spell and made a throwing motion. Heat burst forth from her hand, forming a bright blue ball of flames.

It soared straight over the heads of her attackers, but it certainly surprised them.

“Holy shit!” one of them cursed, ducking his head. The other one merely stared at Hitoka with wide eyes.

She used the moment of confusion to assess the situation. Her eyes darted all over the scene, trying to figure out an escape route. When she saw Kageyama lying on the floor, completely unconscious, she felt a pang of guilt. She wouldn't be able to carry him out of here. She just wasn't strong enough.

She took another look at her attackers. They were both a lot taller and stronger than her, and they'd managed to knock out Kageyama with a single spell. She was no match for them.

Suddenly, something caught her eye. It was white and turquoise, usually small and inoffensive, but in this moment it was utterly terrifying. There was a Seijō logo on one of their bags that they had carelessly dropped on the floor. 

How had she never noticed this before?

They were slowly approaching her now, their initial shock seemingly forgotten.

_ I'm sorry, Kageyama-kun _ , she thought. There was nothing she could do for him; she could only try to get help. Immediately.

She closed her eyes and threw a blinding sphere of light into the night sky before they could get to her. Snapping her fingers three times and muttering under her breath, she turned on her heels and ran for it, just like Shōyō had taught her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the kudos and comments :) I really appreciate them!


	13. Disagreement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter is short.

This was going too far. Hajime was used to Oikawa's rather eccentric way of dealing with obstacles, but a kidnapping? What was that idiot thinking?

Angrily, Hajime shoved his safety goggles onto his face and stormed into the research lab. Oikawa was standing in front of a fume hood, working on a new kind of medicine as usual. The amount of Dimroth condensers and distilling traps in front of him was ridiculous.

“Uh, what's wrong, Iwa-chan?” Oikawa looked over his shoulder in surprise.

“You complete moron!” Hajime roared. “Are you aware of how much trouble you'll be in if anyone finds out about this?”

Oikawa's smile froze on his face. “Uh... What are you talking about?”

“Don't play dumb!” Hajime grabbed his best friend's shoulders and spun him around. He slammed down the sash of the fume hood, just to be safe. You never knew what kind of crazy experiments Oikawa was conducting.

“I was looking for Kunimi and Watari and what does Kindaichi tell me? That you sent them to kidnap Daichi's students!”

Oikawa's face turned cold and stony.

“We need the amulet. And this way Daichi can't tell us no again,” he reasoned in this cocky tone that only served to infuriate Hajime even more. Cursing, he took a step back and started pacing through the laboratory.

“We've already established that you don't even know how to use it!” Hajime yelled, clenching his fists. “And what about Kunimi and Watari? What if Daichi finally snaps and involves the police? You'll probably all end up in jail together, just because of a stupid fucking drudenfuss!”

“It's our only chance of finding a cure and you know it,” Oikawa huffed and folded his arms in front of his chest. “And you also know that Daichi would never call the police. He doesn't want anyone to know about the amulet, especially not his father.”

But this was not the right way. This was not what Hajime had imagined when he helped Oikawa found his pharmaceutical company. He'd admired his friend's determination. He'd thought he'd be able to control Oikawa's whims. He would have never imagined that Oikawa would resort to kidnapping and blackmail.

“I'm not going to involve myself in your schemes,” he spit out and marched towards the door. “Don't bother coming home until you've fixed this!”

As soon as the door snapped shut behind him, Hajime tore off his goggles and shoved them into the front pocket of his lab coat. He had to fight the urge to punch something. He cared too much about that idiot to let him destroy himself over a piece of jewellery.

 

***

 

Sighing, Tōru leaned his head against the cold glass pane in front of him. This was why he hadn't wanted Iwa-chan to know about the plan. He'd have to chew out Kindaichi for this. That guy couldn't keep his mouth shut. But then again, Iwaizumi could be pretty persuasive and bullheaded, so maybe it wasn't the new guy's fault to begin with.

Tōru gave a start, when he suddenly heard his phone ring. He pulled it out of his pocket to check the call ID. It was Watari.

“Do you have them?” Tōru asked without preamble.

“Uh, kinda? We managed to knock out this Kageyama Tobio guy, but the girl escaped,” Watari said.

“Good enough, I'd say.” One student should still give them enough leverage to force Daichi to give up the amulet. “Take him to the warehouse, I'll meet you there.”

“Yes, sir.”

Tōru hung up and stared at the background image of his phone. Iwa-chan's eyes were staring right back at him. Huffing, he shoved the phone into his pocket. He wouldn't let himself be guilt-tripped by a picture.

He'd call Daichi as soon as he made sure that the hostage was being taken care of properly. That was the least he could do to appease the nagging voice inside his head that told him that Iwa-chan was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why has Oikawa got a picture of Iwaizumi as his background? Who knows... ;)  
> The next update might take a little longer, because it'll be at least twice as long as most chapters, but I'm halfway done with writing it, so it shouldn't take too long.  
> You can follow me on [tumblr](http://gilrael.tumblr.com)


	14. You can't take what's ours

“Try to focus on how the metal feels in your hand,” Sawamura-sensei instructed. “How would you describe it?”

Shōyō scrunched up his face. “It's heavy and cold.”

“What about the texture?” his teacher prompted.

“Uh... It's slightly rough.” Shōyō hated these exercises, although he knew that they were necessary for him to get better at transfiguration. He just wasn't very good at getting a feel for the material he was working with. 

Sawamura was about to open his mouth again, when suddenly his phone rang. Clearly not pleased with the interruption, he pulled it out of his pocket. His face turned stony when he looked at the screen.

“Uh... Could you maybe practice in the living room?” he asked. “This might be...” He trailed off. 

Shōyō was curious. Sawamura usually didn't care whether anyone listened to his phone calls. But Shōyō wasn't going to pry into Sawamura's private life, so he took his scrap piece of metal to the living room. Sitting down on the couch, he turned it over in his fingers. It was almost shaped like a cube, but one of the corners had broken off. It's colour was mostly black, but there was a blue sheen to it. In a way it reminded him of the first crow figurine Kageyama had given him. The thought made him feel a little queasy.

Before he could descend on his usual spiral of self-pity, though, the doorbell rang, and whoever it was seemed to be in a hurry, because they kept ringing the entire time it took Shōyō to get to the intercom.

“Who's there?” he asked, unable to keep the annoyance out of his voice.

“Shōyō!” a familiar female voice yelled into the speaker. “They have Kageyama!”

“What? Ya-chan?”

“Please, quick! They... they...” She sounded like she was about to burst into tears any second. Shōyō buzzed her up immediately. He had absolutely no idea what this was about, but it had to be serious. The moment Yachi stepped into the flat, she grabbed Shōyō's shoulders and looked at him with big, teary eyes.

“Those salarymen!” Her voice was all shaky, but the words left her mouth quickly. “They weren't actual office workers! They... they had the Seijō logo on their bags! And they attacked us! Me and Kageyama! They knocked him out, but I managed to escape. I think they took him! We need to get him!”

Shōyō could barely comprehend what he had just heard. Seijō. That meant Oikawa.

Shit.

This was about that weird amulet again, wasn't it? It had to be. And now Kageyama was involved as well.

Suddenly, the office door burst open.

“Hinata!” Sawamura-san yelled. “We need to contact everyone! Oikawa kidnapped...”

“... Kageyama,” Shōyō finished the sentence. His mind was racing. There were too many thoughts to keep up with. It felt like his head could burst any second. 

If Ya-chan hadn't been holding on to him, shaking with tears, he'd probably succumbed to the nausea spreading through him. But he needed to be strong. For her sake. And especially for Kageyama.

“Hinata, bring Yachi into the living room and then call Yamaguchi,” Sawmura ordered. “Tell him to come here as fast as possible. I'll try to get a hold of the others.”

Shōyō nodded, glad that his teacher was taking charge of the situation. 

 

***

 

Tadashi could barely believe what was happening. He'd known that Sensei and the head of the Seijō company had been squabbling over an amulet for ages, but this surpassed all his expectations. As soon as Shōyō had called, he'd rushed to the café. He didn't think that there was anything he could actually do to help in this situation, but Kageyama had become an irreplaceable part of the Black Feather. He was basically family. A grumpy, awkward part of the family, but also someone who tried his best at everything he did. Kageyama wasn't good with people, but he made an effort. Tadashi liked him for that.

Now everyone was gathered in Sawamura-sensei's living room. The atmosphere was tense. Everyone's auras had an edge of fear to them and they were burning up with anger. Tadashi couldn't shake the feeling that there was even guilt mixed into Sawamura's aura. He couldn't be sure, though. He was decent at auras, but not a genius like Yachi.

“Oikawa demands I give him the amulet in exchange for Kageyama,” Sensei said in a serious tone. His fist was tightly clenched around the artefact. “There are two things I could do. The obvious thing would be to give him what he wants. But I can't do that. I really can't. It... it wouldn't be a good idea for him to have the amulet.” His knuckles turned white. “We can't involve the police, because... Fuck, I know this sounds... crazy. I don't like it either, but... Ugh... I promise I'll explain, when all of this is over.” Tadashi had never seen his teacher look so agonised. It was not an encouraging sight. “So that leaves us with only one option. We have to find Kageyama and save him. It's going to be dangerous. Oikawa has become quite desperate and therefore ruthless. I'd do this on my own, but I know I can't go up against all of his people alone. I have a plan, though, and if all of us work together, we might come out of this relatively unscathed.”

“You can count on me,” Kiyoko-san assured him, voice full of determination. Next to her, Yachi gave a small nod. She hadn't said a single word since Tadashi had come here. She seemed to have gone into shock. Next to himself Tadashi felt a cold shift in aura's. He turned his head to see an eerie glow surrounding Shōyō. There was no fear or anger left, only... Tadashi didn't have a word for it. It was more than plain determination. So much more.

“I'm in!” Shōyō said too loudly. In this moment he seemed larger than life. It was terrifying in a way Tadashi had never expected of Shōyō.

And then all eyes turned to him. Suddenly, Tadashi felt trapped. He didn't like the spotlight. He wasn't used to it, because he never did anything that could be considered remarkable, but he couldn't let them down. Squaring his shoulders and sitting up straight, he nodded. “I'll do what I can.”

Sawamura let out a sigh of relief. 

 

***

 

At first glance, the plan was relatively simple. They'd use a locator spell to find Kageyama. Hinata and Yamaguchi would go wherever he was, find a place to hide and contact Shimizu. Shimizu would then call Oikawa and pretend that she had stolen the amulet and was willing to exchange it for Kageyama. Hopefully Oikawa would then let his guard down, which would enable Hinata and Yamaguchi to rush in and free Kageyama.

At a second glance, Daichi new that there were so many things that could go wrong. They didn't know how many of Oikawa's men were involved in the kidnapping. Maybe Oikawa wouldn't take the bait. Hinata and Yamaguchi might be discovered too soon. They could get hurt.

The biggest uncertainty, though, was the locator spell. It was a spell Daichi had only used successfully once in his entire life. To make matters worse he only knew one variation of the spell, and that only worked on inanimate objects. There was one way to sidestep these problems, but it was dangerous.

He looked at the iron drudenfuss in his hands. He hated this thing with a passion. If he ever found a way to destroy it, he'd do it without hesitation. All it ever did was ruin lives. What appeared to be a blessing at first, would always turn out to be a curse. The power one gained by wearing it the right way came at a high cost, but Daichi was willing to pay it this time. He had no idea what Oikawa was going to do to Kageyama. His own sanity seemed like a small price to pay for his student's safety.

Daichi turned his head towards the clock. Hopefully, Suga would make it here soon. Yachi was in shock, she needed the attention of a professional. And to be quite honest, Daichi needed him, too.

Taking a deep breath, he went into his office to gather the paraphernalia the spell called for. Chalk, feathers, a piece of black cloth and a jagged shard of a mirror. Just to be on the safe side, he also pulled out one of his old text books from the academy, and opened up the chapter on locator spells. There was a diagram showing the setup of the ritual. 

He'd need space, so he returned to the living room.

“Hinata, Yamaguchi, please make as much space as possible, we need a circle that fits all three of us.”

His students immediately started pushing all the furniture against the walls and rolled up the rug to reveal the parquet floor.

“Shimizu, would you help me please?” he asked, knowing that she was a lot better at drawing perfectly round circles. If he did it, it'd probably end up a useless oval shape. 

Shimizu took the chalk from him and knelt down on the floor. She knew what she had to do and it didn't even take her a minute. With a satisfied nod, she handed back the chalk, so that Daichi could add the symbols that were needed for the spell.

His students watched him intently, while he worked in silence. Usually, he'd use this opportunity to give them a lecture, but he couldn't risk his concentration. If he fucked this up... No. He didn't want to think about it. 

When he was done adding the last rune, he piled up the feathers in the middle of his circle, covered them with the cloth and placed the mirror on top.

Daichi had another look at the clock. It had been fifty minutes since Oikawa had called him.

He really hoped that Kageyama was alright.

Then the doorbell rang. Hinata went to let in the new arrival. It was Suga. 

“Sawamura Daichi!” the grey-haired psychiatrist yelled as soon as he stepped into the flat. Of course he was angry. Daichi hadn't expected anything else from his best friend. “I told you this thing was trouble, didn't I?”

“You can lecture me when Kageyama is safe again,” Daichi said, before Suga could talk him out of using the amulet. “Yachi is in shock. She's currently sleeping in Hinata's room. Please take care of her. And please take care of me when I'm done with this.”

“Is it really so dangerous to use the amulet?” Yamguchi asked nervously.

“The first time he used it, Daichi passed out and slept for an entire day,” Suga replied nonchalantly. Daichi flinched. He didn't like remembering these things. “The second time he used it, he started hallucinating. And we are also pretty sure that using the amulet too often is what killed his uncle.”

There was a hint of accusation in his voice that made Daichi feel like he was being scolded by his mother. 

“No more talking,” he barked. “We need to find Kageyama. Hinata, Yamaguchi, kneel down in the circle with me. If everything works the way it should, you'll see the way to wherever Kageyama is. Try to remember it as best as you can.”

The two young men nodded. A fierce look appeared on both of their faces.

Careful not to mess up the chalk drawing, they sat down around the mirror. Daichi took a a couple of deep breaths to steel himself for what he was about to do. He put the amulet around his head and adjusted the strap so that it was hanging at the same height as his heart. Then he pulled out his pocket knife and pricked his finger, smearing the little bead of blood over the black stone in the middle of the amulet.

The effect was immediate. He felt powerful, euphoric, almost drunk. The room around him was suddenly buzzing with auras and sensations. It felt like a drug and it could be just as addictive.

Daichi pushed all other thoughts aside and focused on Kageyama. He thought about his newest student and chanted the incantation, slowly at first and picking up speed with every repetition. 

Without warning, a blinding light burst forth from the mirror. In front of his inner eye, he travelled to the outskirts of town, until he saw an old warehouse come closer and closer. Suddenly, it was like he was standing in front of the ground floor windows. Looking through, he saw Kageyama lying on a mattress.

The vision vanished.

And with that, Daichi lost consciousness.

 

***

 

There was a metallic taste in Tobio's mouth when he woke up and his body ached all over. Slowly, he opened his eyes to an unfamiliar place. It was a huge storage room with row after row of shelves, but they were all empty. He tried to remember how he got here.

He'd been at work and Kiyoko-san had asked him to walk Yachi to the bus stop, but then... Pain. And then nothing. There was no denying that he was scared, not only for himself, but also for Yachi-san. She was nowhere in sight.

There were footsteps coming from the door on the far side of the room. Tobio tried to get off the mattress he was lying on, but his sore limbs made it an excruciatingly slow endeavour. He was barely sitting, when someone opened the door. 

The person who entered was an impeccably dressed man with stylishly dishevelled brown hair. He appeared to be in his late twenties. Tobio had the feeling that he'd seen him somewhere before, but he couldn't attach a name to the face.

“Oh, Tobio-chan woke up!” the man exclaimed, brandishing a calculated smile as he approached.

“Who are you?” Tobio croaked out, abandoning his efforts to get up. He wouldn't be able to cast a spell anyway. He felt too sluggish and groggy for that.

“Haven't you watched the news recently?” The stranger lifted his eyebrows. Tobio felt like he was being mocked. “My company has had a couple of breakthroughs in medical research lately.”

It took Tobio a moment, but he remembered reading an article yesterday, when he had been trying to distract himself... “Seijō,” he said slowly.

“Correct!” A blinding smile broke across the man's face. “I'm Oikawa Tōru, head of the Seijō company. It's a pleasure to meet you, Tobio-chan!”

Tobio didn't like the way this guy was talking. “How do you know my name?”

“Oh, I know a lot of things about you! Your name, your age, your workplace... Tell me, how's your grandmother doing recently?”

He'd already been scared, but that was nothing compared to the utter terror that was taking a hold of Tobio now. “What did you do to her?!”

“Don't worry, Tobio-chan, I didn't do anything to her,” Oikawa said. “I'm only interested in finding a cure for her condition. I heard that she's been feeling nauseous a lot.”

Tobio didn't know what was going on anymore. He didn't like this one bit.

“I need to go home,” he said, once again trying to get up, but when he saw the look on Oikawa's face, he froze up.

“I can't let you do that, I'm afraid.”

 

***

 

The locator spell had been really disorienting, but Shōyō had instantly recognised the area where they were holding Kageyama hostage. Finding the warehouse had only taken him and Tadashi about half an hour. Now they needed to find a way inside, which proved to be more difficult than Shōyō would have liked.

Breaking into Oikawa's office had been surprisingly easy. There hadn't been any guards, only a couple of protection runes, and Shōyō knew enough about runes to make them useless. He had thought that Oikawa would be a lot more careful, considering that he was running a rather large company, but apparently he hadn't been too concerned with people wanting to break into his office.

He seemed to have learned from his mistakes, though, because the warehouse was being guarded by two men standing at the front entrance, talking to each other in hushed voices. Shōyō recognised one of them, because of his weird haircut that reminded him of a shallot, and the other one seemed oddly familiar, too. Maybe Shōyō had seen him at the café once or twice. He wasn't sure.

“And what are we going to do now?” he asked quietly, peering around the corner they were hiding behind. “We need to get closer, or we won't be able to surprise them.”

Tadshi's eyes were focused on a small garage right next to the warehouse.

“Do you think we can get up there?” he asked.

Shōyō guessed the height of the garage roof to be about three to four meters. If they got up there, they'd be able to get in through the windows on the upper floor. The ones on the ground floor were all barred.

“I could summon some wind to give us a push,” Shōyō mused. “It's worth a shot.”

“Okay, then let's sneak around the back,” Tadashi suggested.

 

***

 

Tadashi had never done anything illegal in his entire life, at least he couldn't remember anything. But there was a first time for everything apparently, because here he was, climbing the chain-link fence that surrounded the warehouse and the garage. He barely managed to catch himself with his hands when he fell down on the other side of the fence. Thankfully the ground was covered in grass or he probably would've skinned his palms otherwise. Despite being considerably shorter than Tadashi, Shōyō had less trouble with it and landed on the other side rather gracefully.

They were standing at the back of the garage, where the guards at the front couldn't see them. 

“You go up first,” Shōyō whispered, folding his hands and holding them out for Tadashi to step on them. “I'll give you a boost.”

“What about you?” Tadashi asked sceptically.

“I have some tricks up my sleeve, don't worry,” Shōyō replied.

Taking a deep breath, Tadashi stepped onto Shōyō's hands and suddenly he felt himself flying upwards, carried by a gust of wind he hadn't even heard being summoned. Instinctively he grabbed the edge of the roof. With a lot of effort he pulled himself up by his arms. He had totally underestimated his friend's talent for wind magic. 

Carefully, he turned around and looked down to see what Shōyō was up to. The redhead had sat down on the ground and was fiddling with the soles of his shoes, rubbing his hands over them repeatedly until he seemed satisfied with whatever it was he was doing. Then he got up and ran towards the wall at full speed, while snapping his fingers and muttering under his breath. He was literally running up the wall until he could reach the edge of the roof. Tadashi instantly grabbed his wrists and pulled him up. 

“What the heck was that?” he asked incredulously.

“Noya-san showed me,” Shōyō replied, shrugging like it was the most normal thing in the entire world to run up a wall without breaking a sweat. 

The distance between the warehouse and the garage was small enough for them to simply step onto a windowsill.

“They'll hear us if we break the glass,” Tadashi realised, not having thought of that before.

“We don't need to,” Shōyō said, sounding like he was used to what they were currently doing. “We just need to transfigure the lock from the outside, so that it's open. You do it. You're faster at transfiguring things than I am.”

Tadashi wasn't sure if he could actually do that, but he tried anyway. He put his right hand onto the window frame and closed his eyes. Remembering his recent lessons with Sawamura-sensei, he tried to follow the steps in his mind. First you had to feel the material on the outside. The wood was weathered and rough. The second step was to concentrate some energy in the fingertips to feel what was behind the wood. He moved his hand up and down frame, until he felt something hard – probably the lock. Now it was all just a matter of concentration and chanting. Tadashi kept his voice low, willing the metal to reshape itself. All of a sudden, the window moved inward, causing Tadashi to give a start.

“You're amazing!” Shōyō whispered with the biggest grin on his face and pushed the window fully open, so they could climb inside.

 

***

 

Kiyoko and Sugawara-san were sitting in Sawamura's living room, waiting for two things – for Sawamura to wake up and for Hinata and Yamaguchi to text. 

“We should have never shown the amulet to Oikawa,” Sugawara-san repeated for the twentieth time.

“You couldn't have known how he'd react to it,” Kiyoko said calmly. “You thought that he could help you destroy it. There's nothing wrong with that.”

“But we  _ knew _ him!” Sugawara exclaimed frustratedly. “He's always been way too serious about finding a cure for his mother's illness. I should have know that he'd make a connection between doing that and using the amulet.”

Kiyoko didn't really know how to get through to him that this was not his fault. If anyone was to blame, it would be Oikawa, but Sugawara didn't listen. Instead he got up from the armchair and knelt down in front of the couch, where Sawamura-san was still sleeping restlessly. 

“It's like he's having nightmares,” Sugawara muttered, carefully taking his friend's hand. A small smile pulled at Kiyoko's lips. As soon as Sawamura woke up again, Sugawara would probably start fussing about him immediately. She still remembered that one time right after she'd started working at the Black Feather, when her boss had been sick and Sugawara had taken it upon himself to nurse him back to health. 

She was pulled from her memories, when her phone gave a little chime. 

 

From: Yamaguchi Tadashi

> Call Oikawa. We're in position

 

***

 

Tobio was leaning his head against the wall, trying not to think about the cable ties around his wrists and ankles. He'd tried to defend himself, but Oikawa had been stronger and quicker than him.

This all felt like something straight out of a nightmare. It seemed so unreal that Tobio's biggest worry was whether his grandma had had anything for dinner. He wondered if anyone from the Black Feather had called her, and whether they had told the truth, if they did.

The thought left a bitter taste inside his mouth. They wouldn't let him rot in here, would they? They'd eventually give in to Oikawa's demands. They had to. And then he'd be free to go home to grandma and apologise for making her worry.

At least Oikawa had been nice enough to tell him that Yachi-san had managed to escape his underlings. She was definitely tougher than she looked. 

He heard footsteps again and then Oikawa burst into the room, followed by a guy with a buzz cut. Tobio had definitely served coffee to that guy once. He'd been one of the men Yachi had told him about, the ones with the suppressed auras. It seemed like she'd been right to worry.

“Good news, Tobio-chan!” Oikawa said, grinning over both his ears. For the first time his expression didn't seem fake. “Kiyoko-chan has been nice enough to tell me that she stole the amulet from your teacher. Seems like she cares more about you than he does.”

The bitter taste inside Tobio's mouth intensified.

“Don't try anything funny,” Oikawa warned him, while his employee cut the tie around Tobio's ankles. “We've arranged a meeting with–”

_ Crash! _

Tobio's head snapped up and turned towards where the noise was coming from. His heart skipped a beat.

In the door frame stood two very familiar people. 

They came to get him.

Hinata and Yamaguchi actually came to get him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't sure whether to fit the entire rescue mission into this chapter, but then it would have become excessively long, so I decided to end this on a cliffhanger. I also did that, because I probably won't be able to finish the next part before next monday and I wanted to tide you over with something.
> 
> I also made a [post with all of the characters' ages](http://gilrael.tumblr.com/post/133936640203/black-feather-characters-ages), since they differ widely from canon.


	15. Part of the team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so hard to write :/ I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, but if I look at it any longer I'll go crazy. So here it is!

Oikawa was not prepared for this, but he should've been. Of course Daichi had planned this. Kiyoko-chan would've never gone against her boss and Daichi would never let his students down. Oikawa really should've known better. 

He was about to summon a spell to stop Chibi-chan, who was charging at him at full speed, when suddenly a bright flash illuminated the old storage room, blinding him and Watari-chan. 

“Fuck!” He couldn't see a damn thing anymore! He tried to open his eyes, but they were still too sensitive. Blindly, Oikawa tried to knock over one of the shelves, hoping that it would fall on Hinata. Instead he heard Watari give a little yelp and then something hit the floor. It seemed he had knocked over his employee.

Ugh, he hated globe lights. 

And then it was too late. He felt a small hand on his shoulder, heard very familiar words leave Hinata's mouth. The paralysis spread through Oikawa's body faster than he could fight it. He should've known that Daichi had given his students combat training. The guy had a degree in magic law enforcement. 

Oikawa wished he had listened to Iwa-chan just once. He had really fucked up badly.

 

***

 

Shōyō didn't know how long the paralysis would last, so he had to act quickly, while Tadashi dealt with the other guy.

Kageyama was staring at him with wide eyes. It was the first time today that they actually looked at each other, but Shōyō didn't have time to think about that. He made quick work of the cable tie around Kageyama's wrists. Their chances were better if he could use his magic as well.

“Hinata–”

“Later!” Shōyō interrupted him. This was not the time to talk. They needed to get out of here, while Oikawa and Mr Buzz-Cut were still paralysed. He grabbed Kageyama's wrist and ran for the door. Tadashi followed close behind them.

As soon as they were out of the door, they came to a sudden stop. Shallot Head and his friend had come to investigate the commotion they had caused.

Oh fuck. Before Shōyō could think of something to do, Kageyama wrenched his arm out of his grip and swung it through the air in a chopping motion. Small blue flames burst from his fingertips, causing the two Seijō employees to take a step back.

“Get out of our way,” Kageyama glowered. A shiver ran down Shōyō's spine. He'd totally forgot how intimidating this guy could be. The warning seemed to work.

“I'm not getting paid enough for this crap!” Shallot Head said and stepped aside to let them through. The other guy followed suit.

Tadashi, Kageyama and Shōyō started running again.

When they reached the exit, they could hear Oikawa shout orders. The paralysis had worn off. Taking a deep breath, Shōyō grabbed Kageyama's hand, before he snapped his fingers three times to summon the wind. They'd need the boost. 

 

***

 

Tadashi could barely keep up with Kageyama and Shōyō, although Shōyō had shown him a long time ago how to do that thing where the wind pushes you forward. For someone with such short legs, Shōyō was a remarkably fast sprinter. Tadashi looked behind himself again and again, just to make sure that they'd shook off Oikawa and his men. Luckily, it seemed that they'd managed to do that after just a couple of blocks.

“I think we've lost them!” he informed the others and slowed down.

Kageyama came to an abrupt halt, which caused Shōyō to stumble, since their hands were still tightly interlocked.

“Oh, sorry!” Shōyō exclaimed and let go of Kageyama's hand. Kageyama simply frowned and looked in another direction, but Tadashi couldn't shake the feeling that even this rescue mission hadn't mended the chasm that had formed between the two of them. 

“Thanks,” Kageyama muttered.

“For what?” Shōyō asked. Tadashi had to suppress the urge to slap the back of his stupid friend's head.

“For getting me out of there, dumbass!” Kageyama barked angrily. Tadashi decided that it was best to step in before they started fighting seriously.

“You're our friend, of course we'd come and get you,” Tadashi said, trying to ignore the awkward tension in the air. “I'm glad this plan actually worked out. To be honest, I wasn't so sure about this when Sensei suggested that we trick Oikawa into thinking that Kiyoko-san would bring him the amulet, but it turned out fine, huh?”

The frown on Kageyama's face disappeared and was replaced by surprise. “This was Sawamura-san's idea?”

“Of course! We'd never be able to come up with something like this,” Tadashi replied. “He was worried sick, just like the rest of us. Speaking of which – we should get going. The other's are waiting four us at the Black Feather.”

 

***

 

Groaning, Daichi opened his eyes. His head felt like someone was poking tiny needles into his brain over and over again. It was worse than any hangover could ever be. 

“Thank god, you're awake!” Suga yelled and pulled Daichi into a bone-shattering embrace. Maybe he should do stupidly reckless things more often if he got a hug from Suga out of it. 

“Don't you dare ever do this again! I was so worried about you...”

Daichi would've liked to revel in his best friend's closeness for a little longer, but there were more important things on his mind.

“How's Kageyama? Is he back?” Daichi asked. His voice sounded strangely raspy.

Suga let go of him immediately.

“Shimizu called Oikawa a while ago, but they aren't back yet,” he said with a worried expression.

“What about Yachi?”

“I talked to her for a while and used a calming spell on her,” Suga explained. “She's asleep in Hinata's room again. It was a good thing you called me, though. She was really upset. If I hadn't treated her right away, she might not have recovered from this for a while.”

Daichi heaved a sigh of relief. “I knew it would be good to have a psychiatrist around.”

“What about you? How do you–”

Suga was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Daichi immediately got up from the couch, ignoring the glaring pain inside his head, and went into the hallway. Hinata, Yamaguchi and Kageyama were back.

Without thinking, Daichi stepped forward and pulled Kageyama into a hug. 

“Thank goodness,” he said, chocking back tears of relief. “Thank goodness you're alright!”

 

***

 

Tobio didn't know how to react to Sensei's emotional outburst. He stood there, feeling awkward as all hell. It had been a relief to know that Sawamura-sensei had never intended to abandon him. But this hug was definitely too much. Tobio barely ever hugged his own grandma. 

“Uh... Has anyone contacted my grandma?”

For a moment Sawamura stiffened and then he stepped back, finally letting go of Tobio. “Erm...”

“I called her,” Kiyoko-san said. “I told her that you were running late because you had to help out with an emergency at the café. I didn't want to worry her.”

That was... good. Probably. Tobio wasn't sure how to feel about anything right now.

“Give that poor boy some space!” A grey-haired man with a pleasant voice pulled Sawamura away and started issuing orders. “Yamaguchi-kun, go make some tea, please. And Hinata-kun, if you could make us a little something to eat that'd be great.”

Then the stranger turned to Tobio with one of the kindest smiles he had ever seen. “My name is Sugawara Kōshi. I'm a psychiatrist and an old friend of Daichi's. I know that this evening must have been quite the ordeal for you, so why don't you come sit down with me in the living room?”

 

***

 

Kōshi would've liked to meet Kageyama-kun under different circumstances. He seemed like a nice kid, someone he'd get along with. But as much as Kageyama insisted that he was fine, Kōshi knew that he was not. In his time at the academy he'd learnt a bunch of very useful things about reading auras that helped him diagnose somebody's mental health. The clues were subtle, but they were there and he'd be damned if he didn't help Kageyama-kun before this turned into PTSD. 

But the young man was stubborn.

“Honestly, I'm _fine_ ,” he insisted with a frown that would frighten a lesser demon. 

Kōshi wasn't impressed.

“I'll tell Daichi to stop the lesson's if you don't do therapy,” he threatened. It seemed to do the trick. Kageyama-kun looked scandalised. 

“He wouldn't,” he said sullenly.

“He will,” Kōshi assured him. “If he knows what's good for him,” he added quietly.

“Hmpf.” Kageyama folded his arms in front of his chest. “If you say so.”

He was just like a small child. The thought made Kōshi smile. 

He could understand why Daichi loved his students so much. As much as their personalities differed from one another, they all had one thing in common – they were extremely loyal and selfless. They were like a team, complementing one another and constantly looking out for each other. They didn't always function like clockwork, but Daichi kept them on the right track. This ability to hold a group together was one of the reasons why Kōshi had fallen for his best friend a long time ago.

 

***

 

Everyone except for Yachi was gathered in Daichi's kitchen, eating sandwiches, drinking tea and waiting for Daichi to make due on his promise of an explanation. He didn't know how to broach the subject. He'd done quite a lot of reckless things in his past and he wasn't exactly proud of most of them. The only thing he'd repeat without a single doubt was to take over the Black Feather.

In the end it was Shimizu who brought up the topic.

“Sawamura-san,” she said, “you said you would explain.”

There was no accusation in her voice, her aura was calmer than it had been all day. Her eyes, like everyone else's only held curiosity.

Suga gave him an encouraging nod. “I'll add anything you forget to mention,” he offered. Daichi was glad that he was here. Being around Suga made a lot of things easier. 

 

It all started shortly after Daichi had graduated from Karasuno Academy with a degree in law enforcement. Not that he'd ever had any desire to become a police officer, but it was what his father had wanted and what his father wanted he got. So when his uncle died an untimely death, Daichi made a snap descision and took the opportunity to defy his father by taking over his uncle's café. Daichi's father was, of course, furious with him, since he wanted his son to follow in his footsteps as police marshal. Their relationship had been tense ever since.

The first months were a challenge. The café was in desperate need of a renovation and the flat above it was still full of his uncles possessions that nobody wanted to have. Eventually, Daichi had to swallow his pride and ask his friend form the academy for help. 

It was when they were going through his uncles stuff one night that Asahi came across the amulet. At first glance it appeared to be nothing more than a simple piece of jewellery, but when Asahi touched it, his fingers felt numb and prickly. Of course, Daichi and Suga hadn't believed him at first, calling him a scaredy cat. But Asahi insisted that it felt wrong to touch it, so Daichi took it from him. Instantly, a shiver ran down his spine, but he still put it around his neck, just to prove a point.

He didn't take it off and continued to go through his uncles desk for another hour, until he accidentally cut his finger on the sharp corner of a binder. When he lifted his finger to suck on the wound, a drop of blood hit the stone on the drudenfuss. The sudden rush of energy and power took Daichi by surprise. He was so confused, didn't understand what was going on, and yelled out. The shock had made him lose control of his powers, causing an enormous gust of wind to leave his mouth, which knocked over all the furniture. Afterwards Daichi immediately blacked out.

He woke up in hospital a day later. The doctors hadn't been able to tell what had happened to him, but Daichi was convinced that it had to be caused by the amulet. He didn't tell them, because he was sure that nobody would believe him. He'd never heard about an artefact like that. Even Asahi and Suga, who had witnessed the entire thing, had their doubts. They helped Daichi figure out how he'd triggered the amulet's magic anyway. They did it whenever they took a break from working at the café or cleaning the flat. It took them a couple of days to understand that the amulet had to be worn at the height of ones heart and then activated with a drop of the wearers blood.

This time Daichi knew what to expect, and wasn't surprised by the exhilarating feeling. That day they figured out that the amulet would magnify the effect of any spell cast while under its influence. At first they were really excited about the possibilities they saw in this discovery, until they realised that Daichi started to see things that weren't there. He saw colourful dots floating through the room and monsters lurking in his peripheral vision.

They didn't experiment with the amulet for while after that. Suga insisted that it was too dangerous. His fear was confirmed when they came across the diary of Daichi's uncle.

He'd been addicted to it, to the feeling of power it granted. He'd used it daily, withdrew further and further from society. At some point the entries became less frequent. Before he died he hadn't written in his diary for an entire month.

Afterwards they decided to find a way to destroy it. Nobody should ever use it again. It was too much of a risk. They'd considered taking it to the police, but decided against it quickly. Daichi knew his father. The police marshal was ambitious and would try to take advantage of the amulet's powers.

They tried every method, be it mundane or magical, but nothing worked. It was unbreakable, resistant to heat and cold, and wouldn't be transfigured, no matter what. In their desperation they turned to one of the most talented magicians they knew – Oikawa Tōru. Suga knew him from high school and hadn't talked to him in a while, but when he'd told him that he needed his help with something, Oikawa had been all ears.

After they explained to him what they were trying to do and why, a fight broke out. Oikawa wanted to use the amulet to find a cure for his mother's illness. Daichi and the others refused him.

Since that day Oikawa had been trying to get his hands on the amulet at any cost. 

 

***

 

Tobio still felt a little out of it, but knowing why he'd been kidnapped was comforting in a way. His teacher was trying to protect Oikawa from his own ambition.

“Whoa.” Hinata was the first to break the silence after Sawamura-sensei had finished his story. Tobio wasn't sure what to make of Hinata's involvement in the rescue mission. He'd felt so secure when the redhead had taken his hand and cast the wind spell on the both of them. Now they were back to where they were before – no eye contact and as much distance between them as possible.

“I'm sorry that I involved you all in this,” Sawamura-san said, bowing his head.

“I think I'm speaking for all of us, when I say that we don't mind,” Kiyoko-san said. “You gave us a chance to study magic when no-one else would. You couldn't know that Oikawa would use that against you.”

“Yeah, you're like... Well, you're basically like a second father. At least to me,” Hinata said.

“Yes, we're family,” Yamguchi agreed.

“That's all nice and well, but it's getting late,” Sugawara-sensei reminded them. “I already missed the last train home, and you guys should all get some shut eye. Especially you, Kageyama-kun.”

Tobio did feel tired, but he hadn't really noticed until now.

“Yeah, I think I'll walk home now,” he muttered and got up. 

“I'll come with you!” Yamguchi offered instantly.

Tobio would've never admitted it, but he was relieved that he didn't have to walk home alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're slowly reaching the end of this fic. There's only one more chapter and an epilogue to go.


	16. Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Proceed with caution, the "past rape" tag is pretty relevant for this, but it won't go into any details.

Kōshi was used to sleeping in the same room as Daichi, because they'd shared a dorm room at Karasuno back in the day. He wasn't used to sleeping in the same bed, however. Hinata-kun had suggested these sleeping arrangements with a glint in his eyes. Yachi-chan was asleep in Hinata-kun's bed after all and they only had one guest futon. Kōshi was sure that his former patient had noticed his affection for Daichi and this was probably a really misguided attempt at getting them together. Hinata's plan was destined to fail, Kōshi was sure. Nonetheless, it was nice of Hinata to try.

Now Kōshi was wide awake in Daichi's bed, trying to ignore his best friend's proximity. It wasn't working very well. Especially since it seemed that Daichi wasn't able to fall asleep as well.

“Suga?”

“Hm?”

“Thanks for coming today.”

“I couldn't let you go through this alone, could I?” Kōshi sighed. “I'm glad everything turned out fine in the end.”

“Me too.” Now it was Daichi's turn to sigh. “I wish there was a way to get rid of the amulet for good.”

Kōshi agreed. That thing had caused nothing but trouble. It was the scariest artefact he'd ever come across. “We'll figure it out one day. Maybe we could bring it to the police once your dad retires.”

“Maybe.”

“But maybe someone else at the police department might try to use it,” Kōshi suddenly realised.

“You're always so optimistic,” Daichi replied sarcastically.

“It's a valid concern.”

“I know. Doesn't make me feel any better, though.”

This reminded Kōshi so much of their years at Karasuno. They'd often stayed up late to talk about their worries in the dark. It was on a night like this that Kōshi had come out as gay. It had taken him all his courage, but the darkness had helped. Not seeing Daichi's face had made it a lot easier.

“You asleep?” Daichi whispered after Kōshi had remained silent for a while.

“No, just reminiscing. We used to talk like this all the time, didn't we?”

“Hm... Yeah, you're right. Back when we lived in the dorms...” Daichi sounded like he remembered those times just as fondly as Kōshi did.

“You'd talk about that boy you liked, but never actually told me who it was.”

Kōshi's breath got stuck in his throat. He'd forgot all about that. Young Sugawara Kōshi had been so stupid.

“You still remember that?” He tried to play it cool.

“Of course! You talked about him a lot.”

_I wish I hadn't. I wish I kept my mouth shut. Why did I ever think that you'd realise that I was talking about you?_

“Now that I think about it, I'm still kinda curious.”

Kōshi had to suppress a groan. “I don't want to talk about it.”

Daichi chuckled. “Come on! I promise I won't laugh.”

That was not the problem. Kōshi sighed and turned around. “I don't want to tell you.”

“I told you all about my crush on the captain of my high school's girl's volleyball team.” There was a hint of accusation in Daichi's voice. Kōshi rubbed his temples. This was not what he'd expected when he brought up the past.

“You don't want to know, believe me.”

“Why not?”

_Because it would ruin this friendship. Because it would freak you out. I want you to stay my friend._

“You won't like it.”

“Oh my god, it's Oikawa, isn't it?”

That was too much. “NO!” Kōshi sat up and turned on the lamp on the bedside table.

Daichi held up a hand to shield his eyes.

“Why would you even think... No!” Kōshi repeated furiously.

“Okay, then it can't be that bad.”

“Why do you want to know so badly?” Kōshi asked exasperatedly.

“I don't know...” Daichi shrugged and carded a hand through his short hair. He looked vulnerable somehow. “I guess I... I want to know your type.”

That took Kōshi by surprise. “Why?”

Daichi sighed and hid his face behind his hands. “Turn off the light,” he mumbled.

“Why do you want to know my type?” Kōshi repeated after they were once again enveloped by darkness.

“Because I'm in love with you.”

 

***

 

Waiting for a response from Suga was torture.

Talking about the good old days had made Daichi remember the first time he'd questioned his sexuality. It was when he and Suga talked in the darkness for the first time. He'd felt so drawn to the sound of Suga's soft yet clearly masculine voice. It had scared him a little, but the next day had made everything worse, because Daichi had suddenly started noticing a lot of small things about his new room mate that made his heartbeat speed up.

Now that they'd been friends for eleven years, he finally managed to gather the courage to tell him. Daichi felt pathetic.

“It was you,” Suga finally replied.

_What?_

Daichi couldn't believe his own ears. “Me?”

“Yes, you.”

“Oh.” Well, now he felt even more pathetic. “You talked to me about myself and I never noticed?”

“Seems like it?” Suga laughed. “Damn it, Daichi.”

Daichi pressed his palms against his eyes until he saw colourful dots on the back of his eyelid. “I'm stupid.”

“Did you like me back then?” Suga asked.

Daichi nodded before he remembered that the light was off again. “Yes.”

Suga let out another chuckle. “So we're both stupid then. I never noticed.”

Daichi sighed and removed his hands from his face. This was awkward. Thankfully it was dark. He didn't want his friend to see him blush like this.

“I never managed to get over you, though,” Suga added quietly, making Daichi's heart skip a beat.

“So you still like me?” he asked, just to make sure.

“Very much,” Suga whispered shyly.

Daichi heard the sheets rustle and shift before he felt Suga's warm breath on his lips. His heart went wild with anticipation until finally their lips connected.

 

When Hinata wriggled his eyebrows at him at breakfast, Daichi had the sudden urge to drown himself in his cup of coffee. Suga, however, seemed to be completely comfortable and simply placed a kiss on Daichi's temple.

 

***

 

Deep down, Shōyō had hoped that things would go back to normal, now that everything was out in the open and Kageyama was back to working at the café as usual.

That hope, however, had been in vain. He still felt guilty. He couldn't ignore the fact that he'd forced Kageyama to... Okay, so he didn't know exactly what he'd done, but he'd definitely done something terrible, and he couldn't act like nothing happened.

 

“Hinata?”

Sawmura-san's shout could be heard in the entire flat. Sighing, Shōyō got off the couch to go into his teacher's office.

“Hm?” He leaned in the door frame. “What's wrong?”

“Have you seen my calendar?” Sawamura asked. “I've been looking everywhere, but I can't find it.”

“Didn't you take it with you, when you talked to me and Tadashi about next weeks schedule?”

Grumbling, Sawamura looked around his office.

“Maybe I forgot it in the kitchen...”

“I'll go downstairs to check,” Shōyō offered.

“That would be nice. Thanks, Hinata.”

Quickly, and without turning on the lights in the stairwell, Shōyō rushed down into the café. Kiyoko-san must've already finished with cleaning the table, because everything was dark and the only light came through the cracks around the kitchen door. Shōyō was about to go in there, when his eyes fell on Sawamura's calendar lying next to the cash register. Of course Sawamura-san had left it down here. Shōyō picked it up, shaking his head at how out of it Sawamura had been ever since he started dating Sugawara-san.

Shōyō was just about to go back upstairs, when he noticed voices in the kitchen.

“I want to help you, Kageyama-kun,” Kiyoko-san said. “I know something happened between you and Shōyō. You can talk to me, if anything is bothering you.”

Shōyō stopped short. They were talking about him. He probably shouldn't have listened, but he was curious. Would Kageyama actually tell her that Shōyō had assaulted him?

“Nothing happened, really,” Kageyama replied evasively.

“I'll listen to everything, even if it's seemingly insignificant,” Kiyoko insisted. “You can vent. I promise I won't judge.”

It was unusual for her to be so insistent. This had to have bothered her for quite a while.

“Fine,” Kageyama grumbled. “You remember that time when Kenta showed up? Yamaguchi-san told me to keep an eye on Hinata, because that dumbass was in really bad shape after that. So I go upstairs after work and find him lying on the ground. He was drunk beyond belief and wouldn't get up, so I carried him to bed. And then...”

Shōyō waited for the bomb to drop. He'd probably pushed Kageyama down and...

“Well, he drunkenly confessed that he apparently liked me.”

Oh. _This_ was not what Shōyō had expected.

“And like the idiot I am, I told him that I liked him, too. It was great while it lasted. He was scared of being alone, so I called my grandma to tell her that I'd stay the night.” Kageyama sighed. “It was amazing. I'd never felt like that before, but then the next morning I woke up and the first thing he says to me is to forget everything.”

Shōyō felt numb. On the one hand, this was great news. He was not like his own abuser. On the other hand, he'd hurt Kageyama for absolutely no reason.

He didn't need to hear more. Slowly and quietly, he went upstairs, holding on to Sawamura's calendar like it was the only thing that kept him from drowning. By the time he was dragging his feet into the office, he felt sick to his stomach.

“Oh, you found it!” Sawamura-san exclaimed happily, but the smile froze on his face, when he saw Hinata's expression. “Are you alright?”

“I feel like throwing up.”

“Good lord!”

Sawamura tore the book from Shōyō's hands and rushed him to the bathroom in a matter of seconds.

 

***

 

Daichi brought Hinata a cup of water to rinse out his mouth. That guy had always had a weak stomach and Daichi had become used to nursing him back to health. This time it had been a little too sudden, though. Usually there was enough time for Daichi to grab some medicine, before Hinata puked his guts out.

“Did you eat something weird?” he asked, after Hinata spit the water into the toilet and flushed.

“No, I don't think so. I just...” Hinata got up from the bathroom floor and pressed a hand against his forehead. “I'm really fucking stupid.”

Daichi frowned. That sounded rather serious. “Let's talk in the kitchen. I'll make you some tea with medicine for your stomach.”

 

Ten minutes later, Daichi simply stared at his student with wide eyes. He hadn't even noticed that Hinata and Kageyama had a thing for each other. He'd actually been surprised when they started getting along at all.

But Hinata was right. He'd done something really fucking stupid.

“You need to apologise,” Daichi said. “Soon.”

“But... But I...” Hinata fidgeted with the cup of tea in front of him, tracing the patterns on it with his fingers.

“Just call him.”

“I don't think he'll pick up, if he sees my number,” Hinata mumbled.

“Use the telephone in the office.”

Hinata groaned and tore at his hair. “I really fucked this up, didn't I?”

“Oh yes. Yes, you did,” Daichi confirmed. “But if you explain why, I'm sure he'll listen.”

“Can I do it tomorrow? I don't think I'm quite ready yet...”

“Do it whenever you want, but do it soon.” Daichi got up and ruffled Hinata's red hair in passing. “I think he'll forgive you.”

 

***

 

Sawamura-san was the best substitute for a father Shōyō could've hoped for. He'd given him shelter, work, an education and advice whenever he needed it. And now he was nice enough to remain in the room with him, while he called Kageyama. Otherwise, Shōyō was sure, he would've chickened out.

While he waited for Kageyama to pick up the phone, he tried to find the right words, but they already got jumbled inside his brain without him actually trying to speak. This was going to be terrible.

“Hello?”

Shōyō jumped a little at the sound of Kageyama's voice. “Uhm... Hi, this is Hinata.” He didn't get an answer, but Kageyama didn't hang up either, so Shōyō decided to go on. “I... think I need to talk to you. I heard... I heard you talking to Kiyoko-san yesterday and... I think we should talk.”

At the other end of the line, Kageyama sighed. “Fine.”

“Um, I was thinking about talking in person.”

There was a short pause and then another sigh. “Fine. You can come to my house. But don't ring the bell. Grandma's asleep.”

“Okay, I'll text you when I'm there.”

“Okay.”

“See you.”

“See you.”

Shōyō's hand was shaking as he hung up the phone.

“You'll be fine,” Sawamura reminded him with a slight smile. “Now go. Don't make him wait.”

Shōyō nodded. This was going to be one hell of a conversation.

 

***

 

Tobio swallowed hard when he received Hinata's text.

 

From: Dumbass Hinata

> I'm here, pls open up

 

He still wasn't sure whether he actually wanted to hear Hinata's apology. He went downstairs to open the front door anyway. Hinata had come to save him after all. The least he could do in return was listen to what he had to say.

He wasn't prepared what the sight of Hinata's bird's nest of hair and warm eyes would do to him. There was no way he could ignore how his heart almost leaped out of his chest.

“ _Please forget that this ever happened.”_

The words echoed in his mind.

“Can I come in?” Hinata's eyes were downcast and he was fidgeting with the hem of his blue shirt.

“Yeah,” Tobio replied lamely and stepped aside. “Be quiet. Grandma's asleep.”

“Sorry for the intrusion,” Hinata muttered as he took off his shoes. Tobio lead the way upstairs into his room. He definitely wasn't prepared for any of this. Sighing, he sat down on his bed. Hinata remained standing, eyes trained on the floor. For a while neither of them said anything.

Tobio grew more irritated with every second. Having Hinata in his room was bad in its own way. Seeing the usually so exuberant young man so hesitant was worse.

“Uh... How's... how are the sessions with Sugawara-sensei going?” Hinata asked.

“Fine, but that's not why you're here,” Tobio snapped. Hinata shrank in on himself.

“I... I'm sorry,” he said and bowed his head. “I... Will you listen to what I have to say in my defence?”

“Just get on with it!” Tobio replied exasperatedly.

“It's a long and unpleasant story.”

“I said get on with it,” Tobio repeated gruffly.

Hinata sat down on Tobio's desk chair with his fingers all twisted up in his lap.

“I should probably start with Kenta...” He sighed. “When I was in my first year of high school, I was recruited by the volleyball club.” Tobio's ears perked up at that, but he was too stubborn to tell Hinata that he used to play volleyball as well. “They thought I might make a good libero, but I sucked at receiving, so they made me a middle blocker instead. I wasn't great at that either, but I could jump pretty high and I was fast, so it was fine. Most of the time I ended up sitting on the bench, admiring our ace.” Hinata's nose wrinkled in disgust. “He was a third year, tall, athletic, brash...” He shrugged. “I don't really know why anymore, but I liked him and... Honestly, I had the biggest crush on him. Wasn't the first time I liked someone, I'd had a girlfriend in middle school for a while, and he also wasn't the first boy. But... Kenta was the first guy who...”

“Wait a second,” Tobio interrupted, not believing his own ears. “Kenta was your team's ace?”

“Yeah.” Hinata smiled sheepishly. “He was the first boy to notice that I liked him and... Well, he took advantage of that. One day after practice he told me that he'd stay back with me to do some receives with me. He... Ugh. We ended up making out in the storage room instead. My heart went all _gwah_ in my chest and I was so happy! But that was stupid. I thought he was in love with me, because every time we were alone, he'd kiss me and tell me that I was adorable... So eventually I asked him out on an actual date, because I thought we were dating. He was kinda weird about the whole idea, but we ended up going shopping together and went for a walk afterwards... We came by his house...” Hinata seemed to prepare himself for what was coming next. “He asked if I wanted to see his room. He said that his parents weren't home so we wouldn't have to worry about being found out.” Hinata stopped. His hands were clenched into fists and Tobio couldn't shake the feeling that what ever had happened next was one of Hinata's most painful memories.

“Kenta glamoured me. And it wasn't an ordinary glamour. I can't remember anything that happened while I was under his spell at all, but... Let's just say that I had trouble biking home that night.”

Tobio's fingernails were digging into his palms, but he barely noticed. He wanted to get up, go out and find this asshole and beat him up. He wanted to create a ball of flames that would simply erase him to ashes and dust. He wished he'd done so when he'd had the chance. Instead he sat on his bed, trying to find words. He wasn't good with words, but he wanted to comfort Hinata. He wanted to apologise for the time he'd glamoured him.

“Hinata...”

“I'm not finisehd yet.” Hinata smiled ruefully. “He sent me home that night before his parents came home. Like I already said, cycling was painful. But emotionally I felt numb. Onl when I finally reached my mother's house, what had just happened to me sunk in. I broke down in the hall, crying my eyes out. My mum freaked out when she saw, and asked what had happened. So I told her.” Hinata's gaze became distant. “Any sane, normal parent would've called the police, I think. But she just stared at me like I was diseased. Without another word she went upstairs, leaving me sobbing on the floor, and when she returned she'd packed two suitcases for me. She said that what had happened to me was my own fault. That I was... disgusting. She told me to leave and never come back.”

This hurt. Tobio felt so helpless. This was beyond any expectation he'd had about what Hinata's past had been like. Of course he would freak out about waking up to a half naked guy sleeping next to him! Hinata hadn't had any clothes that Tobio could've worn to bed, they were all too small, so he'd slept in just his boxershorts. Hinata hadn't minded while he was drunk, but when he'd sobered up...

Tobio felt awful. He opened his mouth, once more trying to apologise, but Hinata wasn't finished yet.

“It was summer, so I spent the first night curled up on a park bench. The next day at school, I avoided everyone. I don't even know why I went in the first place. I didn't have anything else to do, I guess. But of course I ran into Kenta at the end of the day. There were still... feelings. For him. So I decided that what he'd done had been a mistake. I told him about my mum's reaction. He... He offered that I could stay in his room at night in exchange for... Well, my body. I was desperate and didn't know where else to go, so I said yes. The next two weeks were hell. I tried to spend as much time as possible in school, showered in the locker rooms and ate nothing but cup noodles. Then at night I had to sneak into his room after his parents had gone to bed.” He shook his head and didn't elaborate on what had happened those nights.

“One day I walked past the Black Feather. There was a small sign in the window, saying they were looking for part-timers. I went inside and was instantly subjected to one of Sawamura-sensei's interviews. You know how he is.” For the first time today a genuine smile spread across his face. “It didn't take two minutes and I was already sobbing and telling him _everything_. He offered me a job, a place to sleep, magic lessons and he introduced me to Sugawara-sensei. He went with me when I broke up with Kenta that afternoon and he went totally nuts when Kenta hit me. It was bad, but at least it was over after that.”

“Sorry!” Tobio blurted out as soon as it seemed like Hinata was done with his story. “If I'd known, I would've never agreed to glamouring you!”

“No no no!” Hinata shook his head. “You don't need to apologise! Sawamura knows my limits. Those glamours are very different from Kenta's. _I'm_ the one who needs to apologise. When I woke up next to you, I panicked. I couldn't remember anything, so I thought I had forced myself on you...”

“What?” Tobio couldn't believe it. This was not a normal conclusion to come to. “You were so shit-faced you couldn't even walk! You wouldn't have been able to get it up at all.”

“I know that _now_ ,” Hinata mumbled, his cheeks slowly turning read. “I'm still sorry. I thought that I pulled the same shit Kenta did! I.. damn... I feel so... Ugh.”

Sighing, Tobio let himself fall onto his back. He couldn't be mad at Hinata anymore, not after what he had heard.

“Dumbass,” he muttered under his breath.

“I'm sorry,” Hinata repeated quietly.

“So...” Tobio had learnt a lot of things about Hinata right now, but there was still one thing he needed to know. “About that confession from when you were drunk...”

“It's true,” Hinata whispered. “I like you.”

Tobio lifted his head to see that by now Hinata's entire face was burning red. Tobio couldn't describe the feeling that was spreading through him at that moment. It was a mixture of anger, relief, compassion and happiness.

“So you'd like to go out with me?” he asked, just to make sure.

Hinata gave a small nod.

“Huh.” Tobio's head hit the mattress again. “You are the biggest idiot I have ever met, but I... Yeah, I like you, too.”

It felt strange, actually saying it out loud. He closed his eyes and tried not to feel embarrassed by this entire situation.

Suddenly he felt the mattress give right next to his legs and then next to his head. Curiously he opened his eyes again, only to see that Hinata had climbed on top of him with both hands placed on either side of Tobio's head.

“Um... What are you doing?” he asked awkwardly.

“You're my boyfriend now, aren't you?”

Tobio wasn't sure where he was going with this. “Um, yes?”

“Does that mean I'm allowed to kiss you?”

Instantly, Tobio's eyes flickered towards Hinata's lips. This was so different from what happened in Hinata's bedroom. The biggest difference was, of course, that Hinata was completely sober. But most importantly he would remember this.

Tobio nodded and closed his eyes. The touch of Hinata's lips was soft and over way too quickly.

“You're better at this when you're drunk,” Tobio said, making Hinata wince.

“Don't remind me.” Hinata's entire face had turned into a red traffic light, but he still leaned down again and this time the kiss lasted. It was everything Tobio remembered with the added bonus that Hinata's mouth did not taste like beer.

They were so engrossed in making out that neither of them heard steps coming up the stairs. Only when they heard Grandma's voice, did they remember that they weren't alone in the house.

“Tobio? I saw a pair of shoes in the hallway.”

Hinata lifted his head, his eyes opened wide. Tobio simply froze up. This was not something he wanted his grandmother to see, but he couldn't move.

“Do you have a guest?”

As soon as she opened the door, Hinata jumped off the bed, but it was already too late. She'd seen enough.

“Oh. I didn't mean to interrupt,” she said, completely unruffled. “I'll leave you boys alone.”

She smiled at Hinata, said “Please take care of Tobio” and closed the door again.

Tobio had never been this embarrassed in his entire life. Not once.

Well... At least his grandma seemed to be okay with his taste in guys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally they are all happy again :D I couldn't resist the DaiSuga, because they are too cute together.  
> You can expect the epilogue some time tomorrow!
> 
>  
> 
> [My tumblr](http://gilrael.tumblr.com)


	17. Epilogue - Three years later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to finish my homework earlier than I thought, so I sat down and brought this to an end :D

Tōru was nervous as he took the envelope that Iwaizumi had placed on his desk without saying a single word of explanation.

“What's this?” he asked.

“The results of the clinical trials.”

Tōru's eyes went wide. His hands were shaking the entire time it took him to open the letter. As he unfolded the sheets of paper and looked at the numbers his breath caught in his throat.

“Iwa-chan, we did it,” he breathed out.

“Yes, we did.” Iwaizumi sounded rather smug. “Without that stupid fucking amulet.”

A shaky laugh escaped Tōru's throat. They'd finally managed to produce a tincture that actually helped treat his mother's sickness. After so many years, they'd finally reached their goal. He got up and stepped around his desk. Iwa-chan held out his arms and Tōru threw himself at his partner. 

“I already made reservations at that sushi restaurant you like,” Iwa-chan whispered, wrapping his arms around Tōru.

“You should've called me right away instead,” Tōru scolded him.

Iwaizumi shrugged. “I wanted to see your reaction and I was on my way here anyway.”

Tōru sighed and buried his face in the crook of Iwaizumi's neck. Finally his mother wouldn't have to suffer anymore. And not just her – all the others who were suffering from this illness would finally be able to live a normal life again. 

He remembered Tobio-chan. Maybe this would make up for what Tōru had done to him.

 

***

 

“Here's your espresso, Noya-san!” Shōyō said, grinning at his friend.

“Thanks!” The smaller man said and immediately took a sip. “Amazing as always.”

“Glad you enjoy it,” Shōyō replied. 

“Soo... How's Natsu doing? Haven't seen her in a while,” Noya asked.

“She got accepted at Karasuno,” Shōyō explained proudly.

Then he heard the chime of the little bell above the door and turned around to welcome the new customers. Speak of the devil – it was Natsu and Kageyama. A huge smile stretched across Shōyō's face at the sight.

“Hey!” he yelled and practically bounced over to them. He ruffled his sister's curly red hair and stood on his tiptoes to give his boyfriend a peck on the cheek. 

“How did it go?” he asked curiously.

“There are sooo many people, nii-san!” Natsu waved her arms about excitedly. “It's the most magical place I've ever seen.”

“Cool!” Shōyō was happy that she seemed to have enjoyed her first day at Karasuno Academy.

“Classes were too easy,” Kageyama complained, frowning.

“Come on! It was your first day.” Shōyō rolled his eyes. Of course Kageyama would find something to complain about. “You should be grateful that Daichi-san managed to convince the new principal to give you that scholarship.”

“Ukai-sensei is not the problem. He's great. But I shouldn't have been put in a beginner's class for transfiguration.”

“Well, I'm happy that you and I have the same schedule,” Natsu said, grinning. “That way you can help me with homework.”

Kageyama groaned. “One Hinata to take care of is bad enough, and now there's two,” he grumbled and gave Shōyō an awkward pat on the head. His boyfriend sometimes struggled with this entire affection thing, but Shōyō found it endearing.

“Come on, I'll make you some coffee,” Shōyō suggested and pointed them towards the table, where Noya-san was waving at them excitedly.

“I can't stay long, I need to make dinner for grandma,” Kageyama said as he sat down.

“Don't worry! I thought you might be a little tired after class, so I already prepared some sandwiches for her and had Tadashi bring them over on his way home.”

Suddenly, Shōyō was yanked forward by the collar of his shirt and found himself eye to eye with Kageyama. And then, without warning, his boyfriend closed the remaining distance and kissed him.

He could practically feel the stares of the customers burning under his skin, but Shōyō couldn't have cared less. This was the way things were now, and he didn't ever want to go back to the times before he'd met Kageyama. 

 

***

 

Upon entering the Black Feather Daichi stopped short and frowned at the open display of affection going on in the middle of his café, but he didn't say anything. It was better to have the two lovebirds snog than to have them fight. He definitely preferred it when they weren't yelling at each other. It was better for Daichi's nerves.

Shaking his head, he made his way to the back to carry his groceries upstairs. He saw a familiar pair of shoes, when he took off his own. Suga had come home from work while Daichi had been out.

He found him sitting in the kitchen, reading one of his medical journals.

“Hey,” Daichi said, putting down his bags on the kitchen table. 

“Hi,” Suga replied tersely, not even looking up from what he was reading. Daichi raised his eyebrows. That had to be one hell of an article.

“Is it that interesting?” he asked and started putting away the groceries. 

Suga held up a hand. His eyes seemed to be nearing the end of the page.

“Oikawa actually managed to find a cure,” he finally said, almost disbelievingly. 

“He... he did?” Daichi certainly didn't believe it. The amulet was still safely stowed away in his office, so Oikawa must've actually done it without outside help.

“Yeah. Says so in the article he and Iwaizumi published,” Suga said. “We need to call Kageyama-kun.”

“There's no need, he's downstairs,” Daichi informed him, picking up the journal so he could see it with his own eyes.

“Then I'll deliver the good news right away!” Suga got up and in passing kissed his boyfriend on the cheek.

 

***

 

Life at the Black Feather was as hectic as ever. Some students came and went, others stuck around.

And the amulet gathered dust in the drawer of Sawamura Daichi's desk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the nice comments and kudos! I hope you all enjoyed reading this fic as much as I enjoyed writing it :)  
> I'm thinking about doing a BokuAka spin off thingy, but I'll have to organise my thoughts on that first^^ If you want updates on that you can follow me on [tumblr](http://gilrael.tumblr.com)


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